The Arts of War and Life
by Fell's Apprentice
Summary: Drabbles of the "Dreaming of Sunshine" verse from the perspective of various members of the cast.
1. Payback

" _Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." Sun Tzu_ _The Art of War_

The distance from Kusagakure and the Festival village back to Konoha was too far to make in a single day, even at the pace Tsunade drove them, and when they finally stopped for the night, I made a bee-line for Shikako, who was in the process of extricating herself from the overbearing presence of Gai-sensei. "Thanks for looking after her, Gai-sensei." I said, snagging Shikako's bag from where it sat next to the two and slipping my arm around a groggy looking Shikako's waist.

"I don't-" She yawned,"need looking after, Sasuke. I'm fine, I swear." Shikako protested.

I disagreed. "Shikako, you're not even at one fifth your normal Chakra capacity, please take your own advice and let us take your weight for once."

"YOSH! It is not shameful to require the assistance of a teammate when not at full strength!"

She yawned again. and gave a sleepy smile before throwing her arm over my shoulder. "Fine, you're clingy when you're protective, Sasuke."

"I am _not_ clingy, Shikako." I protested, reflexively checking over my shoulder for the rampaging monster known as the common fangirl. " _Thank Kami Ino wasn't here to hear that."_ I set her down with her back to the trunk of an oak. The rest of the rookie nine approached soon after.

Ino immediately began to discuss something about earrings with Shikako, I wasn't interested, so I approached when Kiba, who was standing alongside the others, gestured for me to come over. "We're going hunting, Akamaru and I caught the scent of deer a mile or two back, and we thought we'd bring one back to celebrate these." He explained, plucking at the thick collar of the Chunnin soft body armor he was proudly wearing over his hoodie. "You want in?"

"Sure," I answered, looking back at 'Kako. "Who's going? We passing out jobs for those who aren't?"

The Hyuuga answered. "We've talked about it on our way here. Choji, Ino, Lee, and Hinata-sama will stay with Shikako and get everything set up. Choji and Kiba will cook whatever we bring back. You, myself, Tenten and Kiba will split into two teams and act as an ambush team and a find and chase team. Hinata-sama is informing Tsunade-sama and our sensei of the plan as we speak."

"One tracker per team? That's efficient. I assume Tenten will be performing the kill?" I asked.

Tenten nodded, "Yep, no better job for a girl with one hundred percent accuracy. Makes things simple. You, Kiba, and Neji will chase 'em right into me."

"We'll be back in two hours." Kiba boasted.

* * *

"Hold up, we need to talk." Kiba announced, after we had set Tenten up and we were almost in position.

The Hyuuga sighed. "I figured this was about something more than celebratory venison."

"If this about what happened to 'Kako, speak up. I'm listening. I want Kusa to _burn_." I agreed.

"It's about more than just Shikako-chan. This has been on my mind since Naruto got attacked by by your psycho brother, Sasuke." Kiba started.

" _You're not the only one."_ I balled my fists at the reminder.

"The kidnapping attempt was just the final straw for me." Kiba continued. "This has gone on too long. First you get attacked by Orochimaru and he puts a freaky looking hickey of evil on your fucking neck, and he sends a squad out to kill you, which would have succeeded if Shikako hadn't turned your campsite into a death trap. Then I find out that shitty weasel and the Walking Death Sushi want Naruto dead. They want Gaara dead too don't they, for that thing he's got inside him. "

I nodded, "Yeah, they do."

Kiba was pacing in rage "That figures, it's probably why they want Naruto. Anyway, after that Orochimaru decides that giving you that thing of his, it's not enough, he wants to possess you. Now it's Shikako." Kiba pointed at Neji, "And don't think that Kumo trying to snag Hinata-chan when we were younger doesn't piss me off too."

" _This is the most pissed off I've ever seen him."_

"What's worse is that you know what's common in all of this? We lose, or we barely come out even. Capturing those Sound freaks was nice, but now you can't even leave the village. Why? Because some narcissistic, mad scientist with a kick for possessing other people wants your body."

I shuddered, " _Thanks Kiba, now I get to have nightmares about Orochimaru leading the Fangirl charge in the race to claim me as 'theirs'."_

"I want payback, I'm tired of my people getting hunted like rabbits, and not being able to do a Kami-be-damned thing about it!"

Neji gave Kiba a cautious look "You're talking about a non-sanctioned strike against a foreign country, I understand where you're coming from Kiba, and I agree with it. But I like not being a missing-nin and a traitor a lot more. Whatever you're suggesting _can't_ go that far."

Kiba shook his head. "No nothing that drastic, and we don't want a war with a nation like Kumo, but if I'm on a mission and a Kusa nin crosses _my_ path, he's dead, no excuses. It's too late with Kumo, but I'm with Sasuke, Kusa will _bleed_ for this. And we'll train, and in three years when Jiraiya brings Naruto back and Itachi and his friends come for him, we'll be ready. They'll never know what hit them."

" _Yes."_ "I'm with you Kiba, and Shikamaru will agree with you, I couldn't get him to stop hounding me after _he_ put 'Kako-chan in the hospital, but Itachi is _mine._ "


	2. Return

The wide open gates of Konohagakure no Sato stood tall and proud as ever, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they entered. "It's good to be home." Kiba commented gratefully.

"It's good to have you home dog-breath. Why? Because it was disturbingly too peaceful around here without your incessant barking." A voice returned from above.

"Shino!" Kiba called excitedly to the shinobi crouched on the top of the nearby electrical pole. "Get down here you bug infested son of a bitch!"

"That name does not apply to me, Kiba." Shino explained as he casually hopped down from his perch and strode over to his peers. "Why? Because my mother is not a female canine, which is more than I can say for you my friend." Kiba slapped his hand over his heart with a wounded expression on his face before yanking Shino into a loose one armed headlock.

"Not going to dispute the bug infestation part, Shino?" Sasuke asked dryly.

"I am an Aburame, that is nothing to be ashamed of, copycat."

The Uchiha conceded the point.

"I see that you have all made Chunin, congratulations. Why? Because this promotion was a long time in coming, and I am glad we all stand on equal ground again." Shino praised, prying himself loose of Kiba.

"Thanks Shino," Shikako, who as of that morning was on her feet again, said with a grin at Kiba's antics.

Shino inclined his head. "How were the exams?" he asked, leading the way into the village after moving his way to Hinata's side.

"N-not bad, we all d-did very well." She said quietly but happily.

"Hinata did amazing," Shikako commented. "She smashed Kankuro and his puppet out of the ring in one hit with some sort of chakra fist."

Shino looked surprised at that. "I would be interested to see this. Why? Because I was not aware you had a new move to show."

"I-I would be glad to, Shino."

The ten shinobi walked further into the village before breaking up into our separate groups, Team eight got firmly pulled in the direction of the Inuzuka district, and team Gai split up to go back to their homes. "You coming with me all the way back home?" Shikako asked. "Or are you going to come back for dinner."

Sasuke shook his head. "I think I need to go dig some things out of storage."

"Uchiha stuff?" She asked slowly.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you want me to come with you?" she offered.

Sasuke hesitated, seriously thinking it over. "It's ok if you don't, I just want to see if I can find some of the old Police vests that are in my size. You go home, I'm sure your family is going to want to hear about Kusa's indiscretion before Shikaku-san hears it from Tsunade-sama."

Shikako winced "That's not going to be pleasant."

"At least you will have plenty of stories to tell Yoshino-san, and Kiba will never let you live any of it down."

"Not helping, Sasuke."

* * *

" _Well, it's now or never."_ He thought, his hand resting on the door. Sasuke took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pushed open the door. When he opened his eyes, his shoulders tight as though he was prepared to come face to face with a ghost, he was met with the sight of a warehouse filled to the rafters with the material possessions of his dead kin stacked up in boxes in eight rows twenty meters long, five meters wide, and three meters tall. Sasuke sighed, "And now I get to look through it all." He murmured. Sasuke hesitated before catching himself and punched a wall. " _I have five hours before I have to meet 'Kako. I have to get started now, regardless of how much I don't want to find whatever it is I don't want to find."_ He berated himself before climbing up the first stack of pine wood crates and beginning to methodically pry open each crate with a kunai, rifle through it's contents, and pound the crate back shut in disappointment. " _Why the devil did the Third decide to keep so much of this damn clothing, if it was Mom's or Dad's I might be grateful that he kept it, but all I'm finding is box after box of fucking tee-shirts."_

With every box of unneeded clothing piled next to the wall by the door, he moved on to the next set of boxes. " _Finally, here's what I'm looking for."_ Sasuke cheered as he opened a box to find a stack of Uchiha Military Police soft body armor vests. Checking the tags, Sasuke grimaced. Too large. The next three boxes contained the same result and his search continued. It seemed that every last item bearing the Uchiha crest was stored in that warehouse, from a crate containing nothing but bedsheets to a crate containing a fancy looking set of tea cups that had probably been used exclusively for Tea Ceremonies. Growing more frustrated by the minute, he checked the time " _Three more hours. I'm not even done with the first row yet. I've got to find a way to speed this up. Wait a minute."_ Sasuke straightened. Swiftly moulding his chakra in the way he'd copied off of Naruto, he formed a hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Sasuke turned to his clone and gestured off to the next row. "Get searching, we don't have all day." The clone nodded and clambered on to the next row.

Sasuke stretched and continued. The next hour passed with mind-numbing repetitive boredom as he and his clone searched through box after box of Uchiha emblazoned material in their search to find one single vest that actually fit. " _Come on_ , _I know I had cousins who joined the Force when they were thirteen, and vests were part of the uniform. Where are they?"_ Sasuke cursed as he slammed the lid shut on a box containing a stack of expensive looking kimonos.

"H-hey boss!" His clone choked out. "You need to come see this!"

Sasuke whipped around. "You found them!?"

The clone shook his head furiously as he clutched the rim of the open box. "You need to come see this. I'll take over for you where you're at." The shadow clone dragged his sleeve across his eyes and climbed down.

"If it's _his_ I don't want to see it." Sasuke snapped to the chakra construct as he approached.

"Don't you think we know that? I'm you, idiot. I would have dragged it outside and burned it if it had been." The shadow clone growled as it opened a box to find it full of broken down bed frames.

Sasuke frowned and climbed up the second stack of crates, frustrated by the time his search was taking and nervous about whatever had so visibly upset his clone. When he arrived, he peered into the crate to find a darkly stained wooden chest just over a meter long and flinched as though struck. Boldly painted in scarlet onto the the lid in katakana was a message.

" _ **Property of Mikoto Uchiha. Keep the fuck out!"**_

Sasuke swallowed as he tried to fight back tears, gripping the wood of the surrounding crate so fiercely that the pine splintered under his grasp. Fighting to get ahold of himself, he wiped his eyes on his sleeve and made an impulse decision. Hauling the chest out of the crate with great effort, he then called his clone over and together they bore it down to the floor. Thankfully, the clone had managed to finally find what Sasuke was looking for. Noting the seal locking the chest, Sasuke swiftly sealed the vests into one of the scrolls in his pack, having adopted Shikako's "packing with storage seals" method long before. Then he addressed his shadow clone. "Come on, there's only one person I know who can get me into this thing, and I'm eating with her family this evening."

* * *

AN: Yeah, I've finally stumbled on a bit of a plot line. These will all be chronological and while they will feature all of the Konoha 12, or at least most of them depending on how well I find that I can write them, this will probably focus most heavily on Kiba, Shikako, and Sasuke. I probably won't ever write much if anything for Lee. It's so easy to turn he and Gai into parodies of them selves, and I don't trust myself to write that well for them.

Also, I've gotten a few reviews about the amount of information Kiba seems to know, and it's impossible or improbable for him to know that much. The answer is that he doesn't. He knows about Orochimaru because he was part of it, and he knows about Itachi and Kisame because he was told about it. He knows about Naruto and the Kurama because Naruto admitted to it during the mission de-briefing after the Sound Five mission and he knows about Gaara and Shukaku because he was on that mission as well. He does not know about the Akatsuki in full.

I've noticed that this has gotten a lot of "follows" and "favorites" and very few reviews compared to it. Please review, I need the feedback so I can know what I'm doing right and correct what I'm doing wrong.


	3. Return pt 2

_"The best of us must sometimes eat our words." Albus Dumbledore_

"You must be joking. Why? Because I do not believe that a minor village's leadership could possibly be that stupid." Shino Aburame argued from his seat beside Hinata.

"H-he is not joking, S-shino-kun. Kusa would have taken Shikako-chan if she did not place that seal." Hinata assured.

"And Kusa will just get away with it."Kiba growled angrily, leaning on the grill. "I'm tired of people messing with my pack and coming out even at best."

"I am aware, but the Godaime cannot do anything overly aggressive against Kusa. Why? Because then Iwa will take up arms and Kumo will leap at the chance as well, and that will be the start of the Fourth Great War." Shino countered, pulling a small book and pencil out of his jacket and flipping to his last place in it.

Kiba looked at him, rolled his eyes, and grimaced. "Well fuck, that puts an end to me and Sasuke's plan. I hadn't even considered that."

Hinata looked up in confusion."What?"

"If I had a chance where it didn't affect the mission and me or Sasuke ran across a Kusa nin, we were going to kill them." Kiba explained.

Shino froze and slowly looked up to meet Kiba's gaze. "Kiba, that was the most monumentally idiotic thing I have ever heard out of your mouth."

"Well I realize that now, don't I?" Kiba retorted, walking over and peering over Shino's shoulder. The Inuzuka blinked a few times and shook his head before checking to make sure he was actually seeing what he thought he was seeing. "That's for your little sister isn't it?"

"It is."

Kiba gestured at the book. "Do you mind if I make an observation?"

Shino placed his pencil down and looked up at Kiba exageratedly. "Go on. Why? Because I am dying to know what constructive criticism you could make."

"Well for one," Kiba noted, gesturing at the horrifying, demonic-looking, eldritch monster-like creature towering over a dimunitive human in the foreground. "Children's books aren't supposed to scare the living shit out of the children."

Shino sighed, "Right now I am at the point where the Fourth Hokage, our hero, is about to slay the mountain demon and rescue Konoha from certain destruction."

"So you're creatively retelling history then."

"Yes. Why? Because my sister thinks I am much better at telling it than the Acadamy teachers. And now that I am a chunnin, I will not always be around to teach it to her in such a way that she can pass the tests."

"I've got to admit, if that's the way they taught in the Acadamy, me and Naruto would've had better scores."

* * *

AN: I just want to put a disclaimer. That last little exchange about the content of Shino's little hobby of drawing historical but wildly creative Manga for his sister was taken almost directly from a similar exchange from one of my favorite movies _Black Hawk Down_. I thought it was both in character for the two of them and rather amusing, so I put it in. Don't forget to review!


	4. Dealing with it part 1

" _We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on." Albus Dumbledore_

His mother's trunk turned out to not be nearly as important as some other things in Sasuke's life. Like the spectacular blowup that occurred that night at the Nara house. He was, at that point, very glad he had made the last minute decision to _not_ bring that over. The last thing he wanted was to bring more emotional upheaval anywhere near Shikako without being able to help her sort her own out first.

Ok, that was only most of it, while Sasuke's worry about Shikako dominated his mind for the rest of that night and the next morning, he would grudgingly admit to putting off opening his mom's things. He had the itching feeling that when he opened it he would end up finding things that would reduce him to gross, snotty, sobbing. He was not looking forward to it.

Then Shikako threw him another loop. Of course she did.

"Special Jounin." He said again dumbly over dinner at his apartment. "How do things like this always happen to Team 7."

"Honestly, that was just a bonus." She pointed out, poking at her rice, chicken and stir-fried green tomatoes. "I'm just glad I was able to escape the clutches of R&D once and for all."

"Naruto is going to flip when he comes back and finds out that 'Shikako-neechan' became a Special Jounin while he was gone." Sasuke sighed, shaking his head.

Shikako grinned and reached out to pat his cheek. "Don't sell yourself short, we've got three years. You'll make full Jounin as well." She took a bite of the rice and tomatoes. "Also, 'nee-chan'? I'm honored."

"

Not mine, Naruto's." Sasuke pointed at her with his chopsticks. Whatever warm and jumpy feelings he was starting to experience in his stomach whenever she laughed at something he said or whenever she hugged him, they were _not_ of the sibling kind(he still hadn't really got over her leaning against him after her fight with Gaara) . Not that he knew exactly what they were, nor was he particularly eager to figure them out just yet, he had an idea they'd throw him for _another_ emotional loop. He was still kind of dizzy from the last one he'd been thrown. "You'll have to settle for being the best friend I could ever possibly have from me."

"Same response."

"Thank you."

Shikako pointed back at the soft body armor vests with the blue-shuriken-and-Uchiha-crest on the back. "Find anything else interesting when you found those?"

Well damn it, so much for not opening that up yet. Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, I found a trunk that belonged to my mom."

Shikako's eyes shot up to meet his. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, I haven't opened it yet." Sasuke answered, placing a piece of tomato in his mouth.

"Do you want me there when you do?" She offered.

"Well, you'll have to be. It's locked with a seal that's beyond me, and you're the only one who can get it open that I don't mind touching it." Sasuke answered blandly, "Besides, it's not a priority at the moment." He got up and placed his empty dishes in the sink.

Shikako was taken aback. "What is that supposed to mean? It's your mom's stuff. Why isn't it a priority?"

Well, this could go horribly, as it had last night, mostly Shikamaru's fault in his humble opinion, or it could go relatively well. Probably all a matter of not being a career-murdering jackass, or at least not _**acting**_ like one. "Because you are occupying that position." Sasuke answered, walking around to the opposite side of the small table and sitting beside her. "This thing with… _him_ targeting Naruto, and Orochimaru is really getting to you isn't it? Shikamaru doesn't get it, but it's only going to get worse before it gets better, way worse, and as much as he might want to you can't escape it by staying out of the way. You're one of the few our age who actually gets it and is preparing for it. There's no avoiding it, only choice we have is to get good enough to kill them before they get us. They're _S-class_ , and we only have three years to get good enough before Naruto comes back and they come looking, and you think that no one seems to realize it but you and you're scared. You don't want to lose anyone."

Shikako was staring at him and rigid as a board.

"I'm not going to suggest that you stop. I'm on your side, I understand what you're doing and why. But you're my best friend,you're the best friend I'll _ever_ have," Sasuke pleaded, voice choking up a little bit, and dammit he hadn't meant to get like this. "and I want you to be okay before any of my stuff gets taken care of, because that's what you've done for me, so If you ever want to talk about it-"

And then she was hugging him, and he was busy pushing that currently distracting jumpy feeling to the back of his mind again because he needed to make his best friend the priority.

"Thanks." Shikako murmured. "I needed to hear that. Shika doesn't get that."

"No problem." Sasuke replied, hugging her back. "That's what best friends do right?"

She squeezed a little tighter before letting go and standing up. She wiped her eyes and looked out the window. "I probably need to go home now." She announced, throwing her jacket and vest on. "But we are getting that box opened, soon. You help me, I help you." She poked him in the chest when he got up to follow her to the door.

Sasuke nodded, and opened the door. "Yeah, we'll deal with all this together, right?"

She agreed and they hugged again, and Sasuke watched her leave. Her back just a touch straighter than when she'd arrived, and as Sasuke closed the door and filled the sink with water and soap he couldn't help but think hopefully that maybe he improved things a little for her. _He_ might still be coming to rip away everything he had and Orochimaru might still be looking to possess him, but maybe Shikako was being crushed under all the weight she felt because of it just a little bit less. And if there was one thing Sasuke understood it's that you deal with your fear and despair in small little increments, one day at a time, because if you face it all at once, all it does is send you right back into an endless black pit.

* * *

AN: So yeah, the big argument between 'Kako and Shikamaru finally broke, finally. That's been needed to be gotten over with for both their sakes and now it been done. That's good. Right time, and right place where Shikaku could pick up the pieces and Sasuke could learn that Shikako needs some help dealing with the weight of the nightmare that's going to be unleashed on them in three years. I hope I got their characters right. Thanks for reading and please review!


	5. Dealing with it part 2

_"Curiosity is not a sin... but we should exercise caution with our curiosity... yes indeed." - Albus Dumbledore_

It was a week or two before Shikako and Sasuke had any time to pop Mikoto's trunk open. Between training with Kakashi, with the Sensor Squad, Shikako's posting with the Intelligence Department, and Sasuke's continued posting with Border Patrol, they were both being kept extremely busy.

"Hey." Sasuke greeted as he opened the door a little bit wider so Shikako could enter. "Where'd you get all that?" He asked, glancing at the numerous books in her arms.

"I wrote them, it's everything I have on sealing." she explained somewhat proudly. "Jiraiya even proofread this one." She laid them out on the kitchen table and tapped one that looked like it had colored sticky notes sticking out of it.

Sasuke frowned in confusion. "When did that happen?" He asked, walking into his bedroom and dragging the wooden box out into the kitchen.

"You were learning Chidori with Kakashi-sensei." She replied as she helped him lift it onto a chair.

Sasuke nodded and Shikako got to work studying the seal locking the trunk. "Tea?" He offered.

"Please." Shikako confirmed, flipping through the notebook and comparing the lock seal to various examples . "Well, whoever did this used Uzumaki-style sealing."

Sasuke looked back at her eyebrow raised. "Wait, what?" He placed the full pot on the stove and turned it to the appropriate setting.

"Come here." She pointed to a picture of a seal in the notebook. "That is literally a textbook example of a Uzumaki-style spiral seal. They're for being extremely strong, stable, and rare, primarily due….well, due to the Uzumaki clan having been destroyed and the survivors scattered and hunted during the Second Great Shinobi War. We took in most of them because they were our Allies during the First and Second Wars."

"And now there's only Naruto, do you think he knows?" Sasuke finished.

"Probably not. I mean, it's not exactly classified information, any book on the First and Second Wars or on the Senju Clan is going to have information on it. Naruto just isn't the type to read history books on his spare time. Anyway, do you see the similarity between the one on your mom's and the one in here?"

"Yeah."

"Uzumaki spiral sealing."

"So my mom knew one and they were close enough for them to draw her a lock seal. Because she _wasn't_ a seal master." He concluded.

She studied it for a few more minutes. " Where's the chakra sink. This has to be powered by something- No. You're kidding, no way. That's too easy." she muttered in awe before simply ripping it off. "That was a dummy seal, it didn't take chakra from anywhere. It was just a massive, dangerous looking bluff." She sighed and stuck the seal into her notebook. "And here I was, trying not to trip a minefield like an amature."

Sasuke carefully decided not to mention how glad he was that it _wasn't_ a mine considering how close the two were versus how casually Shikako ripped it off.

"Well, you ready for this?" Shikako asked, catching his attention carefully and bringing it back to the present. "You okay."

He shook himself like a dog ridding itself of water. "Only one way to find out, right?" Sasuke reached out and shoved the lid up and back, fast enough to prevent himself from hesitating.

Close to half of the box was filled to the top with a collection of notebooks small enough to fit into a pocket, the other side housed a large set of seemingly random but carefully stacked items.

"So where do you want to start?" Shikako asked looking at him expectantly, having stacked up her own notebooks and placed them to the side.

"I think-" Sasuke started cautiously before he was interrupted by the timer beeping it's announcement that the tea was done. Sasuke started at the sound and got up to pour it. "I think we should just lay everything out and figure out what everything is. We can start to go through it after that in more detail."

She nodded and began to methodically lay out the contents of the trunk on the table, Sasuke handed her one of the cups and started flipping through the meticulously stacked notebooks. "We can leave leave these in here." He commented. "They're all journals, I'll start reading them later tonight."

"She certainly seems to have been the nostalgic type or at the very least she liked keeping good records," Shikako confirmed, holding up a heavy notebook and a collection of envelopes. "Photo album, and these letters are dated from a year before the Third Shinobi War." Shikako opened one carefully and began to read, her eyes darting along the page. When she flipped to the second page of the letter, she got about a third of the way down before her eyes widened like saucers. "Sasuke, I don't think you should read these." she advised carefully, struggling to keep her voice even.

"Why? What are they about?" He asked apprehensively as he set aside an additional set of notebooks that he'd determined to be notes on advanced genjutsu.

"Well, " Shikako said, grinning mischievously as she fought to keep herself from giggling and not succeeding completely, "Apparently your mom had a boyfriend before your dad." She explained, eyes glued to the page. "Yeah, for the sake of your own sanity, don't read these."

Sasuke went from being apprehensive, to confused, to outright horror in less than three seconds as it dawned on him and he realized both what was in the contents of the letters and that sometimes perhaps ignorance truly was bliss.

"If it helps," Shikako gasped, fighting for air as she succumbed to the giggling and continued reading. "She was an _excellent_ writer."

Naturally, that didn't reassure Sasuke in the least. "That doesn't help at all!" He protested, looking as though he was going to be sick. And because Shikako gained nothing but enjoyment out of tormenting him, or so he thought by this point as he wallowed in horror, she simply had to make it even worse.

"Seriously Sasuke, can I borrow these for while?" She cackled madly, moving on to the next page with glee.

It took him a second for that to register. "Why?" He asked, perplexed. Then the memory of what he had read out of stupefying boredom during his enforced isolation after Orochimaru's first attempt at his body came back to him and he blushed wildly "SHIKAKO!" He exclaimed, his face red as a tomato as he was assaulted by an _extremely unwanted_ image and another set of that feeling in his stomach that made him feel like he had swallowed one of Jiraiya's toads. Speaking of whom- . "What the hell, 'Kako?! What the fuck did that Pervy Sage do to your head?!" He yelled.

Shikako fought down the laughter, which was replaced by the hiccups. She carefully folded and put the letter back into the envelope before exchanging it with the teacup as she shook with mirth. "There, there, Sasuke." She said, patting him on the shoulder. "It's ok, we'll keep you safe from the smut."

"I want enough alcohol to drown myself." He complained miserably as he slumped down and repeatedly banged his head against the top of the table. "I hope you're proud of yourself, "Kako. There's not enough soap in the world to clean that out of my ears." he moaned piteously, said ears red like the fan on the back of his shirt.

Shikako sighed, her hiccups finally under control. "Ah, on that pleasant note, let's move on." She suggested, removing a Konohagakure forehead plate attached to a maroon bandanna from the trunk.

"Can we _please_." Sasuke begged, hauling himself out of his own little pit of despair and unwanted information to join her in continuing to sort out his mother's things. He removed a set of horror novels, apparently autographed by the author, before removing a kimono and a scroll to reveal a long sleeve made of linen, whose contents stretched along the back of the meter long trunk.

"Hey Sasuke?" Shikako asked, opening the photo album. " Does he look familiar to you?" She pointed to a silver haired man towering benignly over a squad of genin containing an amused boy with earrings and a bow slung on his back, an exasperated looking dark-haired girl, and a girl with striking red hair who was flashing the victory sign at the camera and beaming like she'd just had the world handed to her.

"He looks like Kakashi." Sasuke commented as he removed the sleeve from the trunk.

She nodded, "Yeah, that's what I thought." She agreed distractedly. "Is that a sword sleeve?" She asked, looking at what was in her friend's hands. "Did she practice kenjutsu?'

"Not that I know of, and she taught me almost everything I knew." Sasuke paused. " _Him_ and dad were usually busy with work a lot. So mom taught me my Uchiha taijutsu forms and shuriken techniques ... as well as a lot of other stuff." He peeled the cloth down over the riveted maple handle scales and tsuba of the katana and then the wakizashi before removing them from the bag entirely, which he laid carefully on the table along with the shorter of the two swords before unsheathing the longer. "I guess she did." He pointed at the well oiled but scratched flat and spine of the blade. "It certainly didn't get this from ceremonial use, and it's sharp as hell." He confirmed, lightly testing the edge with the top of his fingernail.

"Isn't one of the Special Jounin you patrol with known for kenjutsu?" Shikako asked, curiously, flipping through the photo album.

Sasuke nodded. "Gekko Hayate." He confirmed, placing the katana on the table so he could do a similar examination on the wakizashi. "You think I should ask him to teach me how to use these?"

"Well I wouldn't use those exact ones, they're family heirlooms at this point and it'd suck if they broke on a mission. But _I_ certainly am. Lessons on how to use the Raijin no Ken are sorta long over-due. You could probably get a copy of them made, though. I'm sure Tenten knows someone who could do it. Who's this?" She asked, pointing to a picture of Mikoto, now in her mid teens and a seven year old in a dark blue jacket edged with orange.

Sasuke barely gave the picture a glance. "Oh, that's Obito, he was mom's favorite cousin. Died during the Third War trying to blow up a bridge in Kusa or something." Sasuke put the swords back in the sleeve and went to sit by Shikako.

They spent a few minutes looking over the photo album before Shikako spoke up again. "There's nine of them." She said quietly, leaning into Sasuke and rocking her head back on his shoulder to study the ceiling.

"Nine of who?" Sasuke asked, looking at another picture of the redheaded girl, the Kakashi lookalike and his mother, who was leaning against the boy with the bow and earrings. They looked about sixteen.

"The Akatsuki. The group Itachi and Kisame belong to." She could feel Sasuke go rigid as a two-by-four. "There's nine of them. All are S-class. All are just as insane or more so. Orochimaru used to be a member, that's how Jiraiya-sama found out about them." She continued, the words falling out of her mouth like water out of a spring. "Sasori of the Red Sand used to be his partner, and there was another seen hanging out at bounty offices. I told Fu from Taki, and Gaara knows too." She tilted her head to looked at him. "Gaara gave me Sasori's folder. I gave it to Tsunade-sama, don't tell anyone though."

Sasuke's expression was a mix of frozen rage and horror. " _Nine_ _of them_?" He stated in shock before shaking his head. "Well now I know why you're so worried. We have to kill _nine S-class psychopaths._ And that's not even counting Orochimaru."

Shikako nodded and rocked her head back its former position on his shoulder. "Yeah." She continued to study the subtle pattern on the ceiling formed by the plaster. "Yeah." she breathed quietly as Sasuke tightened his arm around her shoulders, both caught up in imagining the nightmare they'd be walking face-first into three years later.

"We'll get through it." Sasuke said eventually. "We're the Lucky Sevens." He turned a page in the album.

* * *

AN: Sorry this chapter took so long, I got stumped several times midway through it trying to figure out how to proceed.

So, the trunk finally got opened, Sasuke got traumatized (always amusing, so long as it doesn't result in actual bat-shit craziness) and a good, logical reason for him to take up kenjutsu that has nothing to do with Orochimaru. He also knows the full set of facts about the Akatsuki (however limited it is, score one for military intelligence), and he got some new reading material about genjutsu and his mom's life (the journals, not the filthy letters she wrote to not-Fugaku during and shortly before the Third War). Also Shikako got some of the weight off her shoulders, or at least now it's easier now that she has told someone about it. By the way, the Kakashi lookalike is in fact the White Fang himself Sakumo Hatake and his genin team: Uchiha Mikoto, Uzumaki Kushina, and Hibiki Hayato (aka the kid with the archery equipment and earrings and not-fugaku in a few years).

Also, I hope that I am continuing to get their characters right, especially Shikako, as no one has told me otherwise in the reviews. Please continue to review by the way! I hope you enjoyed it!


	6. Getting settled 1

It was just before eight o'clock on a thursday night when Sasuke came back from a particularly late patrol and found that he both had nothing to occupy himself, and that his mind was still far too busy to go to sleep. So, quickly making up his mind. . . and stomach, as he had yet to eat, he picked up food from a nearby Akimichi owned restaurant and made his way over to the Hokage tower, and from there, the Intelligence wing.

"Is Nara, Shikako in?" Sasuke asked as he opened the door to an intake office , holding up the boxes of food and showing them to the chunin at the desk responsible for guarding the _actual_ door to to the Intelligence department just beside the desk.

"Uh, yeah, she's in, let me figure out _where_ , though. I think they changed her post this week. Just sign the visitor book over there. I'm Arata Daichi." the chunin confirmed, dragging a file with Shikako's name on it out of a drawer and flicking it open. "She's in the Aviary right now, I hope for your sake that's not bar-b-que. Those damn birds beg like dogs and thieve like rats." He said with a wry grin as he got up from the desk. "Come on, you have to have an escort behind that door. I'll take you back." He opened the door and held it open for Sasuke to follow.

"You know, we don't get visitors like this often, especially not this late. You ever thought about where you're going to do your three month stint?" the chunin asked as he led Sasuke down a set of halls.

"I'm grounded in the village right now, until I'm not, I've been assigned to patrol with the Special Jounin." Sasuke answered in an annoyed tone. The chunin responded with a confused look, and Sasuke beat him to the punch. "Orochimaru wants to possess my body for my Sharingan, so until otherwise told, I can't leave the village without someone of Special Jounin rank or above." he elaborated in a disgusted tone.

Arata blanched visibly. "Well, it's a good thing you came up now instead of later. We usually break for dinner about this time anyway. So we'll check the break room first before heading up to the Aviary." He said, clearly trying to steer the conversation toward a less unsavory topic. The chunin opened a door and stuck his head in before closing the door. "Not in there, up to the Aviary then." He said gesturing onwards.

When they found her, Shikako had a hawk twice the size of her head perched on her forearm that she was feeding scraps of meat under the supervision of a man in a chunin vest and dark sunglasses.

"Shikako, you have a visitor." Arata announced, stepping out of the way so Sasuke could enter. The hawk immediately switched its attention to the newcomer and the boxes in his arms as though it was precision guided, and only Shikako waving another chunk of meat in front of it's head distracted it long enough for her to get it back into its kennel. "Mind if I pass him on?" The chunin asked.

The man with the sunglasses nodded. "Go ahead. She'll make sure he won't go anywhere he shouldn't. Hold that door open." He strode over to the open door. "I'm going down for dinner. Don't give the birds anything, Kami knows they're spoiled enough already." One of the raptors squawked as though to protest. "Oh shut up." he shot back before descending the stairs.

Sasuke held out one of the boxes. "Looks like you're having fun."

Shikako accepted the box and led him over to the broad shelf in the opening for the hawks to leave the Aviary. "We were doing fine before you came in and stole their hearts." She said, lightly teasing as she gestured at the twenty-some raptors who seemed to be attempting to be boring holes in him with the intensity of their big golden eyes. Shikako hopped up to sit on the ledge.

Sasuke rolled his eyes "Oh just wonderful." he responded, returning the birds' stares as he opened his boxed eel donburi with tomatoes and cracked apart the disposable chopsticks. The hawks hunched their shoulders and opened their beaks slightly as the smell of the meat hit their senses.

"Now you're just taunting them Sasuke." Shikako scolded, tapping his shoulder with the back of her hand. "Then they'll take it out on me when I get them out again. Come on, what have you been up to? Kakashi said you were working on something."

He gave the birds one final glare before answering. "Yeah, I got an idea for the chidori from your raijin no ken," he gestured broadly with his hands "I want to figure out a way to increase the range somehow, extend the blade or something."

Shikako seemed to think for a moment before replying as she opened her gyudon. "Well, it's just an idea, but you could make some sort of high powered electrical current out of it. It might be easier, just to get used to manipulating the shape of it, right? Or you could try channeling it up your sword. That Chakra Saber is supposed to be receptive to channeling chakra down the blade."

Sasuke considered this for a moment before replying thoughtfully. "Chidori Nagashi, that could work. I'll ask Kakashi about it. Also, speaking of swords, I talked to Tenten about getting copies of mom's made. So she referred me to a guy she knew, and he had an idea to fix that issue of the saber being so fragile and just combine the chakra conductive metal in the saber into the copy of mom's sword." He explained, taking a bite.

Shikako looked surprised. "Kakashi didn't mind?"

Sasuke shrugged. "He said if it suited me better, I should go for it." he shifted before asking, "Enough about me though, what've you been doing up here?"

Shikako seemed to tense up over her food before relaxing, "Ibiki asked me to join T&I." She admitted almost guiltily. "I refused though."

Sasuke frowned "Did he say why? You aren't exactly known for interrogation."

Shikako rubbed her hands over her face and began to tell him of a mission in the Land of Stone and combining the shadow paralysis ninjutsu with killing intent to make a not so innocent civvie shit his pants in fear and spill his darkest secrets. "And now I'm in the Iwa Bingo Book as an interrogation specialist and that's how Ibiki found out."

"Well at least you found out something new…..did I make a Bingo Book?" Sasuke asked hopefully.

Shikako gave a little grin in amusement. "Yeah, you're wanted in Kumo's and Iwa's, and you already know about Iwa's bunker."

"So you're really liking it here."  
Shikako shrugged. "Office politics suck, and it's really busy, but it's a different kind of busy than what we used to to. It's…." She gestured with her chopsticks in her search for a word that fit. " routine, but not in a bad way. It's not as exciting but I think it's kind of making me slow down. Which is a good thing, right now?I guess?" She said, somewhat conflicted. "I'm definitely not staying here forever obviously, but for three months, I think I'll be better off in the long run. I'm being slowed down in training just enough it seems for me to still make some progress on the things I want to, but still not be going so fast that I get burned out." She paused and took a bite. "I don't necessarily like it, but I like the pace it's forcing me to, if that makes any sense." she finished thoughtfully. "You?"

"Being stuck in the village like this sucks, but I'm getting a lot done with training. Kurenai-sensei is helping me go over mom's genjutsu notes. Hayate is furthering my kenjutsu from where Kakashi left off. I was able to copy a few techniques from the Kusa chunin exams and I'm working on getting ahold of them. I guess it's the same, I'm getting a lot done, I just wish I was out of the village more."

"Aoba says that next week we might do some field work, I'll see if I can get you able to tag along." Shikako offered. "No promises, but -." Shikako spread her hands apologetically.

"Thanks, that would be great." They finished eating and threw away the garbage. "You know, I know you said to not tell anyone, but do you mind if I tell Kiba about the whole picture with Akatsuki? The kidnapping attempt in Kusa was the last straw for him and he's been getting more and more pissed about 'his people getting targeted by S-class dicks' since the entire thing with Orochimaru's freak show. He's more livid than I've ever seen him."

Shikako looked surprised "How much time do you spend with team eight?"

Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I got the full earful on the way back from Kusa, but yeah, I've been spending a good bit of time with them. As I said, Kurenai is helping me with my genjutsu so in payment I've been helping Kiba learn a few ninjutsu. Besides, don't we need all the help we can get? Nine rookies, nine Akatsuki."

"Not including Gai's team?" Shikako questioned, a little grin beginning to form.

"The other Hyuuga's a jackass." Sasuke responded, annoyed.

Shikako rolled her eyes. "I meant to not tell anyone about the Sasori file." She said after taking a moment to carefully scan the area for any chakra sensors. "Akatsuki's fair game if you think the others would want to know, though I don't think Tsunade would approve."

"We're not doing anything reckless, Tsunade doesn't have a good reason to tell us to shove off. Not when all we're doing is training to be ready for them." Sasuke replied.

* * *

AN: Yeah, so as of now this thing is definitely going to be going more AU. Obviously it isn't DOS canon, but I do try my hardest to follow and keep this story in compliance with how DOS pans out as much as possible. What with the thing about the Iwa bunker in the last chapter, it's sort of bringing in a new arc that I don't know the ending to, so I'm having to guess.

I'm not really all that happy with this chapter, I knew what I wanted to get said, but I didn't really get any of the bursts of inspiration that I had writing the last two chapters, and that kind of leaves me feeling that it's not as good as it could be, but it's probably the best I can get it right now.

Thank you for your reviews and please continue doing so, it really helps me out.


	7. Back in action

Tsunade looked back at the both of them with a sincerely unimpressed expression. "Well, at least you're learning how to do this within the rules." She said, looking directly at Shikako, who shifted nervously in response. "Fuck it, go ahead. But do your best to make me not regret it."

Sasuke bowed slightly in an extremely rare display of high respect. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

The hokage waved her hand in a clear show of dismissal. "Your welcome, now get out of my office the both of you, before I change my mind."

"Well, that went well." Aoba commented as they closed the office door behind them. "We'll meet at the gates in thirty, we shouldn't be out more than a week at most. Oh, and bring some civvie clothes in your pack as well, nothing that will tip our people off, no clan or leaf symbols."

.

"What is the mission objective?" Shikako asked as they took the jump to the the trees.

"The Genin responsible for keeping discrete tabs in the town of Ranwara has requested a team to investigate her teammate's disappearance after she stated that she was going to scope out the goings on of an even smaller village further north east. The issue is that Ranwara is close to our border with the Land of Hot Springs, the oceanic side specifically, and as the former home of a now non-functional Shinobi village, it is crawling with missing nin of skill levels from high range Genin to Jounin. They're mostly harmless and know better than to piss a village like us off, but they are looking work and places to put down roots, and it wouldn't be too surprising if one got hired to kill off a nosy kid for a wannabe crime boss that just happened to be our contact there." Aoba explained, adjusting his glasses. "Of course, it also wouldn't be surprising if it was something completely mundane either, like a bout of food poisoning. Pufferfish is a commonly eaten food by the coast line, and a natural phenomenon known as red tide that sometimes occurs up and down the coast line in Lightning country can turn the surrounding ocean for a mile or two to poison for a few days afterward. Sometimes the residue can make it's way down a little farther and it can show in the shellfish that end up in fishermen's nets. Which is why we're sending a team that wouldn't qualify as overkill, but could still take care of business should a violent response be appropriate."

"Our contact is undercover?" Sasuke asked. "Why?"

"Because it's easier. Nobody is looking for a fisherman's kid. But on the border of a hidden village, and with Lightning country only ten miles from the town, everyone suspicious has their eyes out for a shinobi. It's better to have our early warning system be discrete, and it also allows for a better way of gathering information because no one is watching out for a shinobi. So when we get a mile or two from the place, we'll be changing into civvies, and adopting a cover story. We'll be cousins going to Yugakure to look for work. Do you two know how to cook?"

Shikako nodded. "I do. Sasuke?"

"I think I know enough to get by, and I can always Copy someone's skills if I need anything else."

"Good, then that's what we'll do for a living." Aoba glanced back at the wakizashi attached vertically to the back of Sasuke's Chuunin vest. "Civvies your age don't carry swords though, even if they are the short version, so I hope you have a way to hide that. You probably won't use it anyway. I'm not saying you shouldn't have brought it, because we might well be walking into some shit, but if we're not, it's important that we not give ourselves away.

"Shikako Nara is my teammate, I know how to make a storage seal." Sasuke reminded, quirking up the corner of his mouth and touching the hilt of the shorter of his mother's swords that protruded over his shoulder. Unfortunately, the pair of swords he had commissioned weren't ready yet, as the smith making them wanted to implement a new technique that supposedly would vastly improve the finished blade and in consequence, was being extra careful, on account of the chakra conductive metal he was taking from Kakashi's chakra saber. So he had opted to bring the wakizashi along instead of the katana, on account of not expecting combat to be a focus of the mission, and therefore, not worth the extra weight of the longer weapon.

Aoba nodded. "Alright then."

"Aoba, what is this listed as?" Shikako asked. "Don't get me wrong, we can handle it, but usually, missions for us aren't this straightforward about the risk. They usually start off as an average C-rank and go downhill fast from there."

"The Lucky Sevens Curse? Yeah,I've heard of it." Aoba confirmed. "Intelligence missions are usually Low risk B-rank and up. C-rank work is office work and report carrying, which is done by the hawks." Aoba adjusted his glasses. "If the situation requires personnel beyond a Genin Corps outpost, the situation is potentially dangerous or sensitive enough that it's above a Genin or low Chunin skill level, regardless of whether the mission is an infiltration or intel seizure or anything else."

.

"This is way too quiet." Sasuke commented warily as they drew within sight of the coast town. He wasn't comfortable with any of this if he was honest with himself. He felt all together too vunerable with only one kunai hidden in the ankle of his sandal and the collar-less shirt baring his neck and collarbone to the world. To add to it, the deafening silence as they grew within a hundred meters to the village was reminding him of another day and thriving town settled by silence and _holy shit we need to get out of here why can't I fucking move!?_

The stench of gallons of spilled blood and bodies only a few hours old hit them in the gut like a sucker punch. Sasuke fell to his knees and wretched. _It smells exactly the same_. Shikako, looking as though she as well was fighting back the urge to sacrifice the contents of her stomach to the earth, helped to haul him to his feet. "Thank you." he breathed. She nodded in return.

"We need to get back into the woods and gear up again." Aoba said, disturbed but not devastated. "Then we go in."

And normally, Sasuke in no way could ever reasonably be called a coward, but as Shikako placed him behind a tree so he could change, the only thing going through his head was " _Holy fuck, what do you mean 'go in' we need to get the fuck out!"_ Then Shikako shook his shoulder gently, and his eyes snapped up to meet hers and the vision of his brother standing over the remains of scores of men, women, and children vanished.

"You've got to snap out of it, Sasuke. It'll be alright. We've been through worse."

He nodded, thinking of how Orochimaru's Killing Intent had brought him to his knees, yet Shikako had fought as though possessed. " _I have to do better"_ He thought, suddenly furious at himself. " _She shouldn't have to fight for me all the time because I can't break my own fear. She deserves a better teammate than that. A teammate that doesn't drag her down."_ He shook himself like a dog shaking off water. "Thanks Shikako, I'm better now." He choked out, giving her a half hearted grin. "You should go gear up if Aoba's moving us in soon."

"Are you sure you're alright." She asked, her hand warm on the back of his neck.

He steeled himself. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

She nodded and turned to leave. "Ok." She took a few steps and turned back. "We don't have the time now, but if you want, we'll talk about this when we get back."

Sasuke nodded, and Shikako left so he could change. Yanking the top of his bag open he quickly put his shinobi gear back on and wiped his mouth with the bleached white civvie shirt before moving to rejoin Aoba.

The Special Jounin gave him a glance over. "You alright?"

"I'm fine now." Sasuke stated firmly, as much to convince himself as his superior.

"Good, I've already sent a crow to inform Tsunade-sama of the situation. Once Shikako gets back, we will enter the village as stealthily as possible to determine the cause of why we can smell human blood and bodies so far out. If there are still people there, we will attempt to detain or delay them. Backup should be sent after us and will most likely arrive within a few hours."

"I'm ready." Shikako stated as she approached, Raijin no ken in hand.

"No need to wait then, let's get after it." he said, visibly steeling himself as they took the jump back into the trees and made their way towards the smell of death.

As they landed on the roof of the first of sixty or seventy buildings, they were treated to the predictable but still bone chilling sight of the corpses of over a hundred people massacred in the streets, some clutching farm tools or lying half in half out of doorways.

Sasuke froze as the memories began to intrude on him again at the sight before he clamped down on them and shoved them to the back of his mind. " _From now on, Shikako will never have to take the fall because I am afraid."_

"Summoning Style: Thousand Scattering Crows!"Aoba announced, biting his thumb and planting it into the thatched roof of a house, releasing a murder of crows into the air. "They'll find who did this." he stated, even as the birds began to circle a short ways away over the center of Ranwara, over a prone, muttering, dark haired person drenched in blood laying in the center of an upside down equilateral triangle inside a circle, clutching a bloody spear in one hand.

* * *

 **Omake 1: Kiba's first mission briefing as a mission leader**

"Alright! As everyone knows this will be the first mission I lead as a Jounin!" Kiba announced unrolling the map of a large town out on a cork board and tacking the corners. "This town is known to have several of Orochimaru's informants living here, our task is to capture all of them for Ibiki's department to have some fun with. When we get to location, Me and Naruto will be conducting a security sweep under henges." Kiba turned around to face the other eight occupants of the room with a savage grin on his face that could best be described as 'shit-eating'. "Also, since we will be using radios, from here on out we will be using codenames for those radios."

 _"Oh this is not going to be good, not with that grin."_ Shino thought with growing apprehension from his seat beside Hinata..

You may address me as 'Dog one.' Akamaru is, 'Good Dog.'" From there he began to walk around the table, announcing his friend's codenames as he passed them. "Ino is, 'been there, done that.'"

Ino's jaw dropped. "Hey-!"

Kiba continued anyway. "Sakura, as medic for this mission, is 'currently doing that.'"

Sakura, grinning wildly, raised her open hand to give Kiba a high-five, which he accepted enthusiastically.

"Choji gets to keep his name, because he gave me chips yesterday."

Choji looked like he had just dodged a bullet by the narrowest of margins.

"Shikamaru is, 'insufferable smartass.'"

Shikamaru's bored expression became an annoyed glare. His opinion wasn't improved by the next announcement.

"Shikako is, 'it happened once in a dream.'"

Shikako, struggling not to laugh, placed her hands on Shikamaru and Sasuke, who looked positively murderous, to hold them in their seats. "and only ever in your dreams, Kiba."

"Sasuke is, 'complete jackass.'"

Sasuke continued to fix Kiba with a look that could have frozen molten metal. Naruto's amusement at Sasuke's codename was killed quickly by his own.

"Naruto is, 'if I had to pick a man.'"

 _"Oh thank the Shodaime, I thought that was going to be me."_ Shino slumped in his chair in relief.

"Hinata is, 'can't get it out of her mouth.' And Shino," Kiba paused, "is "Dog two'"

"Thank you so much."

* * *

AN: No I do not own "Parks and Recreation" nor do I own Burt Macklin, FBI (Macklin you son of a bitch) from which the inspiration for the first Omake was unashamedly taken. I also don't own Naruto or "Dreaming of Sunshine" which is owned by Silver Queen.

Thank you for all your reviews, and please continue so I may continue to do what I am doing right, and stop doing what I am doing wrong. I hope you enjoyed, and I will do my damnedest to get the next part up as soon as I can. (which should be within a week I'm good with writing violence, it's one of my strengths in writing, that and vivid description.)


	8. Here There Be Monsters

_"The fanatic is incorruptible: if he kills for an idea, he can just as well get himself killed for one; in either case, tyrant or martyr he is a monster." - Emile M. Cioran_

"He's still in town?" Aoba commented, perplexed at the sight of his crows circling the center of the village.

"Looting?" Sasuke suggested cautiously, still trying to not pay too much attention to the details of the massacre. Like how that old man's face was turned the entirely wrong way. " _Note to self, trying to ignore something that way doesn't work."_

"They've been dead for over an hour, and let me say from wartime experience, it doesn't take that long to loot this many bodies." Aoba returned in a dry tone that said firmly and calmly 'and no you are not getting a war story about it.' "We approach with caution. Hopefully the perpetrator is already dead, dying, or walking wounded. If not, we engage with the intent to capture and disable, we want to know who this sick fuck is." He ordered, already moving to the roof of the next house.

Sasuke glanced at Shikako before before following suit, wrapping an explosive note around the handle of a kunai as they made their way to the center of the village, making sure to pay attention to their surroundings so that they would not be ambushed.

In the the center of the village lay a dark haired man in the center of an upside down equilateral triangle inside a circle. And he was so caught up in his muttering and occasional barks of laughter that he either didn't notice, or didn't care that Aoba, Shikako, and Sasuke had taken up a position on the roofs of the buildings that immediately surrounded him.

"Let go of the spear and surrender immediately." Aoba commanded, twirling a kunai attached by the ring to a length of ninja wire in tight circles by his shoulder.

The man sighed, his expression of pure bliss marred for a moment by one of unrivaled irritation. "Lord Jashin, please forgive this sinner as I halt my prayers to your almighty throne of slaughter and devastation that I might glorify you as I pause to correct this collection of godless heathens." He pleaded before slowly sitting up and turning his attention to the shinobi surrounding him. "How fucking dare you interrupt the worship of my glorious Lord!" He hissed in rage as he climbed to his feet.

"I'm warning you." Aoba stated. "Drop the -"

"Shut the fuck up, you atheist!" He screamed, shaking in rage. "I'll just have to worship him another way!"

Sasuke was already moving to intercept, hurling the kunai as he did, his Sharingan spinning and predicting the exact moment the fanatic whipped his arm out to launch a set of spikes at Aoba. The custom explosive note went off exactly as Shikako had drawn it. Twice as intense, with the standard radius, it destroyed both spikes and kunai, peppering the religious psychopath with bits of hot metal but leaving no significant wounds.

"Be careful!" Shikako warned as she activated her sword and used it to spit a wide capture pattern of electricity at their opponent. "Some of these bodies don't have obvious wounds. The weapons might be poisoned."

"You're gonna wish it was poison, bitch!" the man shrieked, leaping after her.

Shikako smirked as she immediately dropped to her knees to duck the spear and snag him in the shadow possession, but was foiled by a sealless replacement and was forced to quickly backpedal when she found that he had replaced himself with a barrel on the other side of the building to get behind her. She dodged the spearhead by an inch, the smirk immediately dropping from her lips as she stepped back off the roof only for her foot to find nothing but air. .

"I've got you now you heathen!" he laughed before quite literally eating crow as Aoba directed his murder into his face.

Shikako took the opportunity to leap to safety."There's no point in Shadow capture if he can get out that easily." Sasuke stated, noting the particularly panicked expression on her face.

"We go to disabling then." Aoba confirmed, "I don't care if he never walks again." He lit the building on fire with a quickly applied Katon jutsu.

The Jashinist leapt out of the fire screaming obscenities and lashing out with his spear. Sasuke moved to intercept, dodging the point and lashing out with his sword to take his hand off at the wrist. Levering the spear, his opponent caught the blade on the shaft and struck out and Sasuke's heart with a short kama he pulled out of his belt, only to be foiled by a crow lashing out for his eyes.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Fire Flower Nails!" Sasuke cried, disengaging himself from his enemy. At point blank range, the Jashinist was supremely lucky that he was able to substitute himself before any more of the projectiles hit him, the Katon chakra imbued shuriken cauterizing the wound as they chewed through his left ulna. leaving his arm useless.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, his enemy substituted himself with a wheelbarrow just behind and to the side of him, and if not for his excellent peripheral vision and the preternatural reflexes of the Sharingan, he would've been down a kidney, lung, and his heart. As it was, he was brutally smashed off balance by the Jashinist, so out of his mind with fury that he ignored his broken arm in his attempt to bludgeon Sasuke's jaw out of place with it.

Immediately leaping back into action, Shikako lashed out with the Raijin no Ken at distance to give the murderer the tasering of his life. Sasuke took the opportunity to scramble out of the way and rejoin his team, "Keep it up! That looks like it's working!"

" _Of course, right when I say that, it doesn't work_." Sasuke noted as the figure crumbled into dust. " _Earth Clone."_

"Summoning: Great Servant of Slaughter!" A voice cried out to their left, and they were forced to dodge as a skinless ape with the scattered features of a crocodile and the size of one of the one story buildings that made up the town roared and nearly killed all three of them with a snap of its enormous jaws. "Fear the wrath of my Lord's servant!"

" _And now it only gets worse, way to keep your mouth shut, dumbass."_ Sasuke scolded himself as he fought down panic. "I hope you've got some bigger crows than that, Aoba!"

"Shut up and spit fire, Uchiha! Fire Release: Dragon Fire Bomb!" Aoba yelled, spitting small globs of fire at the monster that exploded like gasoline once they made contact, pissing the thing off more.

Sasuke obliged with another round of Fire Release: Phoenix Fire Flower Nails, which, striking the monster in the bare, uncovered muscle of the chest, truly seemed to enrage it. Grabbing Shikako around the waist, as she was being preoccupied by a scroll she was scribbling furiously all over with a cut thumb, he leapt out of the way and brought them both to safety as it lunged and ripped another building to sheds. " _I'm never setting foot in a temple again!"_

Just as they landed, Shikako threw the scroll under the monster, using a chakra string to make sure that it unrolled with the scribbled on side facing the Thing's belly. "Sealing Style: The Third Unforgivable!"

All violence stopped and the world seemed to freeze in shock as the Jashinist stood there, staring at them in the first moment of silence they had experienced of him. The monster suddenly, inexplicably gone in a puff of smoke and naught left but a scroll in the middle of a village to announce it's passing.

" _Oh…Lord...Shodaime. When did she come up with THAT? Wait, if that's the third, what are the first two?"_ Sasuke thought in half relief, half horror. Then that wonderful moment of silence was broken as the Jashinist screamed in fury and charged again.

"Shinobi Art: Stone Needles Jutsu!" Aoba announced, launching the kunai attached to his ninja wire directly at the enemy's chest, chakra flooding down the wire. The kunai struck the shoulder, the chakra paralyzing the victim, who had used up enough of his chakra that he couldn't fight his way out with a Substitution.

"You fuckers! I'll fucking kill you, you godless -!" The Jashinist slumped over on the ground as Shikako slapped a knock-out tag onto his forehead and activated it.

"If I don't get A-rank pay for that, I am going to be so pissed." Aoba commented, dismissing his crows.

* * *

AN: Well, I kept my promise. It's out and I quote "as soon as possible." Oh and by the way, there is more than one shoutout in this chapter and you all know the first one. I'll give you the other next chapter, but internet cookies for whoever finds it. Brian Jacques (may your soul rest in heaven) you know I don't own what I don't own. That is the only hint I'll give ya'll.

A note on the Jutsu used. All the ones used by Aoba are taken from his Biography in the Naruto wikia

Katon: Phoenix Fire Flower Nails is not what Sasuke usually uses. It's the next step up, instead of the shuriken just being in the fire, he is actually putting the Katon chakra into the shuriken. That's a jutsu I took from www. leafninja .com, apparently Itachi uses it, and I thought it would be reasonable for Sasuke to as well.

I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to review!


	9. Pack and Hive 1

AN: So, I discovered that there is some major backtracking and timeline alteration I need to do. Obviously this isn't DOS canon, but I've already stated that I'd like to keep this DOS canon compliant for as long as possible. So, and I'll update this at the top of each chapter as needed, here is the how the timeline will work out:

(Arts) Payback  
(Arts) Return, parts 1 and 2  
(Arts) Dealing with it 1  
DOS chapter 99, and in the evening (Arts) Dealing with it 2  
Sasuke leaves the DOS picture to do Kakashi's training  
(Arts) Pack and Hive  
Sasuke comes back into the DOS picture from Kakashi's training (so essentially if Sasuke isn't in the DOS chapters being released, those chapters are happening in the above mentioned gap)  
(Arts) Getting Settled 1  
(Arts) Back in Action  
(Arts) Here There be Monsters  
Donahermurphy's snippet

Also, nobody really got it, but the second shoutout in the last chapter was the Ribbajack from late Brian Jacques's book of the same name.

* * *

"Kiba you must surely have _something_ better to do than look over shoulder and watch me draw." Shino commented in a distinctly irritated tone as he sketched a scene detailing an Aburame victory over a Kamizuru set during the Third War. "Why? Because last I noticed you were still working through the jutsu Sasuke left you."

Kiba shook his head slowly. "Nope, worked through the mud wall, clone, and earth walking techniques before he got pulled to do whatever it is Kakashi-sensei wanted him to figure out, and I finished with the three basic fire jutsu scrolls he left me two days ago. I'll admit to the last one taking me a little longer to nail down, but I finished it." The Kamizuru was getting her wasp hive forcibly chewed out of her body by the Aburame's kikaichu. Kiba took an experimental sniff, and noted that neither their sensei nor his second sister were in the area yet. Kiba frowned. Kurenai-sensei had promised to finally start teaching them some low level genjutsu. It wasn't really his style, but he figured that it wouldn't hurt to further expand his growing number of ways he could kick someone's ass.

" _Shy-littermate-Hinata did say that she had to sit in a cruel-not-a-pack-Hyuuga meeting."_ Akamaru reminded him through their mental link as he worried a roll of rawhide made from a rabbit pelt.

Kiba knelt down to run his fingers over his partner's ears. " _It's noon though. I would have thought that those sticks in the mud would have finished by now."_

" _You should have brought something to chew."_ Akamaru lectured " _Always-eating-Choji's never bored, he always has something to chew. Lazy-shadow-Shikamaru's never bored because he always has his clouds to watch. Buzzing-littermate-Shino's never bored because he has his markings to make."_

" _Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm working on it."_

Akamaru huffed and dropped the rawhide, nudging it over with his paw. " _Here, throw it. That way you can keep_ both _of us entertained."_

Kiba laughed and threw the rawhide across the clearing. "So, Shino. Akamaru says I need a hobby. Got any ideas?"

Shino didn't answer.

Kiba nudged him in the ribs. "Shino, come on. surely you've got something."

"You could practice giving other people some peace and quiet for once. Why? I'm sure that would fully occupy your mind." Shino replied.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Alright, that's it. I'll bite. What the hell crawled up your ass and died? You've been extra pissy all morning."

Shino took a deep breath let it out slowly. "I apologize." He bit out. "Why? Because you are right, I have been taking my anger out on the wrong targets because it would not be right or legal to pursue the proper ones."

Kiba frowned. "What happened?" " _Get ready to throw down buddy, somebody messed with our pack again."_

" _Oh finally, some proper rabbits to chase!"_

"Chiyako was publically humiliated and attacked and Mr. Cranberry was grievously injured by their classmates yesterday. She hid in the bushes outside of the Academy crying until Shikako found her and helped bring her home. And this is not the first time such things have happened." He seethed.

" _False alarm, we can't beat up Academy children."_ Kiba explained to Akamaru.

" _Why not? Pups need to be put in their place occasionally."_ Akamaru retorted. He liked Chiyako.

" _And I completely agree, but this is out of our jaws. Don't you think Shino would have gotten back at them if he could?"_

" _Shino sometimes needs a push."_

" _We just can't, as much as I'd like too. Legal human reasons."_

"You're quiet." Shino noted coldly.

"Sorry, I was trying to talk Akamaru out of teaching the bullies a well-deserved lesson. Is there anyway we can help that doesn't involve beating up cruel little Academy snots?" Kiba offered. "Maybe we can get Mr. Cranberry to eat all of the fleas or something. I don't know. She's always welcome at the Inuzuka compound, you know that."

Shino nodded, accepting the explanation. "Not particularly. And thank you."

Kiba waved it off. "No problem, you'd do the same for me."

Shino shifted uncomfortably. "I do not know if this is an appropriate observation to make considering that it is normally frowned upon to have empathy with one's enemy, but I cannot help but wonder if Orochimaru's experience with the Academy was similar to Chiyako's. Why? Because, Chiyako suffers the scorn of her peers like many Aburame before her because society does not look kindly on insects and arachnids, viewing them as signs of filth and decay. Many people's view on serpents is similar, if not worse due to the high number of venomous snakes in this area because of our favorable climate. I wonder if he was frequently bullied as a child because he associated himself with creatures thought of as creepy and dangerous."

" _I have heard that in Kiri, dogs are seen as a public menace, and that D-rank missions are often to kill feral dogs."_ Akamaru added, trotting up to Kiba and laying the rawhide in his lap.

" _I've heard that too."_ Kiba pulled Akamaru into his arms. "I think I'm lucky that I was born in Konoha and not Kiri, or I would be in the same position. And no, I don't think it can be too wrong to empathize with your enemy, as long as it does not stop you from doing your duty. The only reason Gaara is our ally is because Naruto empathized with him."

Shino nodded and put away his notebook and pencil. "We should begin warming up for training. Why? Because my kikaichu can smell Hinata and Kurenai-sensei's approach."

" _Finally."_ Akamaru wagged his tail. " _Let me go. I'm going to greet shy-littermate-Hinata. She alway's needs cheering up after talking with her cruel-not-a-pack-Hyuuga."_

Kiba complied and Akamaru rocketed across the training ground. "Taijutsu?" He offered, standing up. "You need work with that."

Shino nodded, taking Kiba's and allowing Kiba to pull him up off the ground. "I agree. You are still able to beat me in a taijutsu-only spar easily. That needs to be rectified."

* * *

Also, Donahermurphy wrote an awesome little snippet concerning the Third Unforgivable Seal used by Shikako last chapter that can be considered canon in the Arts of War and Life AU (and fits into the corresponding place in the timeline at the top of the chapter), so here is that:

Got inspired from Ch.8 of "The Arts of War and Life," where Shikako uses a seal she calls "The Third Unforgivable," which instantly kills a giant summon.

And I got to thinking... that would _work_. Seals are the interface, right? Shikako _knows_ death. The severing of the soul from the body- she _knows_ that, bone-deep. And writing the blocky gothic lettering of _**Avada Kedavra** _ in _blood-_ if it's imbued with chakra, I feel like there's no reason that shouldn't work just as well as her touch blast.

It's a curse, a solemn utterance to inflict harm or punishment on a target. It calls upon a supernatural power, whether chakra or... something else. It's something with _power_. Those words have power, in her mind- much, much more so that just writing 'kill this."

(I think, by even by DOS rules alone, making _Avada Kedavra_ into a seal would actually _work_. Because the Unforgivables have always been about intent.)

Anywho, here's a ficlet. Post Shikako successfully using the AK Seal, either in The Arts of War in Life scenario, or just in DOScanon against some kind of giant, terrifying summon.

"So Sasuke tells me you took out a giant summons with one seal," Ino said, teasingly. "I'm surprised we didn't hear the explosion all the way from Konoha."

Shikako frowned in mock-annoyance. "I didn't explode it," she grumbled. "I made a new kind of seal."

"Yeah?" Ino asked.

Shikako shrugged. "Most offensive combat seals are about creating an effect or situation that will fatally injure your opponent. This one skips straight to the 'death' part. It doesn't inflict an injury, it's…. more direct."

"A straight-up killing seal?" Ino asked. "Huh. I thought nobody could make those."

"Well, it has disadvantages." Shikako acknowledged. "Radius and timer isn't flexible, and it's not the kind of thing I can practice, even if I wanted to. Making sure the target is right above the scroll when it opens is the only way to hit anything. And it will only get one thing at a time- if a sparrow's between the scroll and the target, it'll just kill the sparrow instead. Really, a giant summons is the only situation where I can see it really being useful. Maybe if someone with frightening powers of regeneration was trapped for long enough I could use it, but that's about it," Shikako explained, animatedly enough.

Ino rolled her eyes. "You keep complaining about the disadvantages, but that doesn't change the fact that you made a seal that pretty much every seal master _ever_ has tried and failed to make."

Shikako was quiet for a moment.

"I suppose I just… thought about it differently," Shikako said, looking away from Ino, out towards the grass clearing. "Most seal makers try to describe death as if it's a wound, or a type of sleep," she said, "and that's not…" Shikako shook her head. "That's not the right way of thinking. The seal _I_ made... death's like getting lost. I just snipped the anchor line." There was something terribly far away in her eyes.

"You didn't get lost, though. You made it back," Ino reminded her.

"That was Shika." Shikako's voice was so quiet, Ino almost didn't hear her.

"I just… reached back," she continued, distantly. Her hand made a trembling, grasping motion. Shikako looked down at it like it was a strange, alien thing. Like it belonged to someone else. "He was… probably a better anchor than my body would have been. I'm used to using Shika to hold on to." There was something very sad in her expression. "I've never been very fair about it." Something ancient and self-condemning in her eyes.

"You've been fighting with him," Ino said, gently. Factually. Not a reproach, but an invitation. Because asking about her death- no. Shikako would retreat from that. But a fight with her brother, if there was something for Ino to _fix_ , a reason Shikako could excuse herself for talking about something that made her feel so weak…

"Shika and I have different ideas on what makes a person safe," Shikako, the closest to bitterly Ino had yet heard from her. Then she sighed. "But… I think it's more that I haven't… I haven't been able to be there for him, afterwards. It's the one time in our lives he's actually needed _me_ for support, and I've just been…" her lips tightened. "I just shoved everything off for him to deal with alone. Because I _can't_ -" her voice cracked, and her face twisted.

She was silent a moment.

"I think this is the only time he's ever asked me for something," Shikako finished.

The words hung there, rippling through the silence like waves in a pond.

There are some things, Ino knew, that you couldn't _let_ be true. Because it would break you.

And Shikako was frighteningly good at sharpening a truth until she could break herself upon it, if there wasn't someone to ground her perspective. Ino had wondered, more than once, if that was one of the reasons Shikako could be so determined to _not_ deal with things, sometimes.

But Shikako was trying to deal with this now, and it that made it Ino's job to try to turn her perspective around to something… a little more forgiving. And maybe more truthful, at least in Ino's opinion. Shikako's vision tended to magnify her failures and blinker her strengths. It was endearing, sometimes. But worrisome, more so.

"From our last year in the Academy alone, the list of things Shikamaru has asked you to handle because it was 'too troublesome' for him to bother with is longer than my arm," Ino said, mild chiding in her voice.

Shikako looked confused for a moment, and then actually rolled her eyes. It was an improvement over her previous mood, at least. "Ino, walking twelve steps to the front of the room and handing Iruka-sensei our papers isn't what I was talking about. I mean _important_ things."

"Everything's important," Ino replied earnestly. "What we do day-to-day doesn't suddenly stop mattering because we do it so _often_." She paused a moment, to let her point sink in. "You know Shikamaru's always trusted you to do the gentle pushing," Ino continued. "You just… calmly set things up in a way that prompts him to do the things it would be more troublesome to _not_ do, so he doesn't actually have to bother working up the energy himself. You spoiled him a bit, really."

It cracked a smile from Shikako. One that looked more present than the dazed, wistful thing that had graced her face before. "Especially compared to the _non_ -gentle pushing?" she asked.

Ino smirked in acknowledgement, then let it gentle into something softer. "If you didn't notice him asking for things, it was because you kept giving him what he needed before you even had the chance to consciously register what he'd asked for. And he did the same for you. So don't say he never asked for things before. You two _always_ did that, the whole Academy." Ino said.

Shikako was quiet for a little while.

"I guess we did," she said softly. She let her knees curl up. Then sighed, bone deep. "I wish we weren't fighting." She let her finger worry themselves against the friendship bracelet on her wrist for a minute or two before she continued. "I just… I don't know how to fix things without actually talking about it. And Shika _wants_ me to talk about it, and-" her lips twisted, and she shook her head.

"Do you want me to talk with him for you?" Ino asked.

Shikako paused, clearly torn.

"This is the part where you say 'Yes, Ino,'" Ino prompted.

Shikako huffed a laugh. "I don't mind you talking to Shika about it- hell, tell him this whole conversation if it would help. I just… I'm not sure it will. Not if I don't do it myself." She frowned.

"You let me worry about that," Ino assured her. She paused for a moment. "You're usually pretty private, though. Are you sure you don't mind what I tell him? Or how?"

"If it helps fix this mess, then I don't really care about anything else," Shikako said, a bit of frustration leaking through. But she hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Though- maybe not anything we talked about in the hospital? I don't-"

The memory ended.

Shikamaru blinked. In the minutes he'd been within Ino's jutsu, his eyes had somehow gotten wet. He swallowed, convulsively.

"Thanks," he managed.

* * *

AN: And now for commentary on _this_ chapter.  
I'm not going to deny it, I was a massive fan of Orochimaru when I was in middle school. Not a fan of what he did, but definitely a fan. The reason why is the same reason that I'm a fan of Shino. Both of them are very intelligent characters that I can empathize with for a very specific reason, particularly Orochimaru. They made associating with animals others hate and despise a part of who they are and they are not ashamed of it. I was, and always have been, also been known for my association with snakes, in just about every social group I've been even passingly involved in. Thankfully I've never actually been treated harshly for it like Chiyako was, but it has gained me some weird looks over the years and my hobby has rarely ever been looked favorably upon by anyone not also involved in it. Chiyako's story struck me because I've heard of instances in earlier times when teachers really didn't bother with what students brought to school so long as it didn't harm anyone and didn't police the playground quite so closely, (Back in the good old days when if you lived in a small town out in the country and you came to school with a deer rifle in the back of your truck for the deer hunt you were going on that weekend, no one called the police.) and young herpers brought snakes to school in shoeboxes and had them stomped to death by other kids because it was a snake, just like Mr. Cranberry.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for your reviews!


	10. Long time no see

AN: Timeline so far:

(Arts) Payback  
(Arts) Return, parts 1 and 2  
(Arts) Dealing with it 1  
DOS chapter 99, and in the evening (Arts) Dealing with it 2  
Sasuke leaves the DOS picture to do Kakashi's training  
(Arts) Pack and Hive  
DOS chapters 100-106  
(Arts) Long time no see (this chapter)  
Sasuke comes back into the DOS picture from Kakashi's training (so essentially if Sasuke isn't in the DOS chapters being released, those chapters are happening in the above mentioned gap)  
(Arts) Getting Settled 1  
(Arts) Back in Action  
(Arts) Here There be Monsters  
Donahermurphy's snippet

* * *

" _I am such a fucking idiot."_ Sasuke cursed himself as he left the training field. " _I just had to activate sharingan and escalate it. I could have ended it right there if I had stepped back and tried to calm her down instead. It wasn't supposed to end that way."_

What he had had in mind was to finally start paying Shikako back in similar fashion for her games during the mission to Wave and before their first Exams. He hadn't intended for his attempt at mischief to turn into a deathmatch. " _I need to get control of myself. I really could have killed each her."_ That was the ultimate problem, Shikako threw the first blow and Sasuke did exactly what was normally expected, he fell back on his training and activated his Sharingan, leading Shikako to redouble her efforts, thinking that he was Itachi. Then they nearly killed each other.

Sasuke checked the sun's progress across the sky as he made his way across the village by way of the rooftops, chakra suppressed as far down as he could make it so that he was functioning without it's benefits, and decided that he still needed to hurry to get done what he needed to get done so he could be back on time.

Kiba wasn't at Team Kurenai's chosen field, so he tracked down Kiba at the Inuzuka compound, watching a little girl in a yellow coat play with a collection of dogs. "I never thought you were into babysitting."

"I am when it's Shino's sister." Kiba returned with a grin. "What's up, copycat? I didn't know you were back."

"I'm not." Sasuke answered. "Have you finished with the scroll I left you?"

Kiba gave him a long look and nodded, calmly getting up and making a 'come with me' gesture. "Yeah, come with me and I'll get them. I can tell you're in a hurry and my room has a window." He turned to the girl. "Chiyako!" He called. "I'm going to get some stuff for Sasuke. Don't push them too hard, Daikuro's still having problems with his ribs. Kiba lead him into the house, a low ceilinged building with wood paneling on the inside that gave the vague impression of a dog's den, Akamaru was passed out on the couch. "So what's biting you? Don't lie, it's all over your face."

Sasuke paused. "Me and Shikako nearly killed each other today." He said slowly and carefully.

Kiba gave him a particularly careful look. "I'm going to assume training accident."

Sasuke tilted his hand back and forth, and grimaced. "Kinda not really." He clarifed, explaining the situation more thoroughly as they walked through the halls.

"At least it ended well and it seems you both know where you went wrong." The Inuzuka said afterwards, a slow grin spreading on his face as he opened the door to his room and began sorting through the contents of the desk along the wall as he searched for the fire jutsu scroll.

"I really don't see what's so funny about it." Sasuke commented defensively at the grin on Kiba's face.

"Well look at it this way, copycat." Kiba explained, locating the scroll and tossing it from one hand to the other. "At least you've learned how to have some fun. I'm sure that that's a drastic improvement in your mental stability. Anything else you need? I'm sure you didn't come all this way just for that." Kiba continued, grinning widely and completely unperturbed by the genuinely unimpressed half-glare being leveled his way.

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be gone for too much longer before I really do come back, and I need you to get everyone ready for a status report, just the twelve of us, about that issue of us being targeted once I get back."

That got his attention. "You have new information?"

Sasuke nodded. "The situation is much worse than we originally thought. I don't have the time to explain fully right now, but the best advice is to get ready for war in three years."

"Against Kumo? Iwa?" Kiba snapped out.

"Not that I know of, but apparently _he_ and Kisame have friends."

Kiba relaxed and tossed him his scroll. "I'll tell them to double time it. Mom found a manned Iwa bunker inside our borders a week or two ago, that should serve as a suitable excuse."

" _What?_ " Sasuke hissed. "You're joking."

"Nope, but I do know a damn good one about an Uchiha that copied the art of the hairball from a cat and regretted it the rest of his life." Kiba paused. "Congratulations by the way."

"What do you mean?"

Now it was Kiba's turn to level an unimpressed look. "Don't lie to me, Sasuke. I'm not Shikamaru, but I'm not an idiot. You can't fool my nose. I know where you've been. Congratulations."

"Thanks. Don't tell anyone though."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Does Shikako know?" Kiba asked.

"No, she doesn't."

"That's between you two then."

Sasuke opened the window. "I'll see you later, dog's breath."

"One last thing," Kiba stated. Sasuke paused on the window sill. "Mom has apparently decided that it's perfectly okay to try to hit on Shikako for me without asking me first." Kiba elaborated. "You know dropping hints how me and Shikako would be a good couple and how our kids might actually inherit some brains. I'm not interested in her, but I just thought you would want to know. You know, as her teammate." He said, holding his hands up.

Sasuke dropped out the window without another word. And Kiba suppressed his laughter all the way back to Chiyako at the expression on his face. The Uchiha looked like he was going to be sick.

Sasuke felt like he was going to be sick as he left and raced across town to exchange the scroll with a new set of techniques he could learn. He didn't like that idea or the flash of sheer panic that gripped his stomach that accompanied it _at all._ Not that he knew _why_ that idea made him feel sick to his stomach, nor, he thought, was he particularly eager to think about it.

* * *

AN: Alright, here's my opinion about the fight in this latest chapter, which I've kinda stated in the first paragraph.

Here's the real issue. Shikako _and_ Sasuke need better control over themselves. It's not about Shikako not being able to detect someone sneaking up on her. That's a separate issue that does need fixing, but it's not why this situation went bad. On the surface, I can't find anything wrong with the way either reacted, if _they were on a mission._

Shikako is startled, so she reacts with violence.  
Sasuke is attacked, he reacts by activating Sharingan.  
Shikako sees Sharingan outside of a sanctioned spar, she reacts with the intent to kill or severely disable.  
Sasuke is attacked with the intent to kill, and responds in kind.

 _They stopped thinking and fell back on their training._ They did exactly what they were supposed to do _on a mission_. What they need to do is gain more control over _t_ _hat._

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!


	11. Hard Topics

(Arts) Payback  
(Arts) Return, parts 1 and 2  
(Arts) Dealing with it 1  
DOS chapter 99, and in the evening (Arts) Dealing with it 2  
Sasuke leaves the DOS picture to do Kakashi's training  
(Arts) Pack and Hive  
DOS chapters 100-106  
(Arts) Long time no see (this chapter)  
DOS chapters 107-108  
(Arts)Hard Topics; Part One  
(Arts) Getting Settled 1  
(Arts) Hard Topics; Parts Two and Three  
(Arts) Back in Action  
(Arts) Here There be Monsters  
Donahermurphy's snippet

* * *

 **Part One**

The next morning saw Sasuke at the training grounds with a bag of sweet bean rolls he knew he wasn't going to eat and his cheap, mass produced, ANBU katana in hand.

"I'm sorry for not telling you anyway." he apologized as he sat down next to Shikako and placed the bag next to her.

She took a blank look at the bag before shifting it to him. "That's not-." She broke off before placing her head in her hands. "I'm not mad at you anymore, Sasuke. "

"That doesn't mean I still shouldn't be apologizing. I should have told you." Sasuke argued.

"You weren't supposed to in the first place."

"Yeah, and we're supposed to know about Akatsuki, and whatever it is that Sai is apart of." He rolled his eyes.

Shikako let out a huff. "I get why you did it. Just please be careful. If you see or hear things that don't add up, tell Kakashi-sensei, tell Tsunade, tell _somebody_." She paused. "This scares me more than Akatsuki does." She admitted. "Because, and I'm just guessing here, but they might have been the ones who leaked our location during the mission with the mill owner. Orochimaru couldn't have gotten that information so quickly if someone high up in command hadn't gotten it for him. What that implies scares me."

Sasuke's mouth went dry. "It implies that someone high up wants me worse than dead, fast. And that's why you were pissed."

"Oh that's not it. I still can't believe that you just _let them put a goddam seal on you._ Did you even ask what it did, or who controls it for that matter?" She burst out, voice rising in in a tone that clearly exclaimed 'are you fucking stupid?'

Sasuke opened his mouth to argue, then closed it instead, suitably chastised. "Well it isn't a kill switch, I think they would have activated ... _His_ if it was." Sasuke sighed. "You're right, it was stupid. Next time they want to put a seal on me, I'll refuse." He fidgeted. "If I let you put a seal on me that could tell you where I was would that make you feel better about it?"

Shikako looked up, eyes wide, and then they turned to anger and she hit him again, _hard_ , right over his ANBU seal. "Letting people put seals on you is exactly what I'm pissed at you for in the first place, you idiot."

"Yeah, but you're you!" He yelped, "You're my best friend, you're not going to blow my head off if I disobey you. I trust _you_!"

Shikako snorted, still not pleased, but mollified. Her shoulders slumped. "Yeah, it would. Not now, though. I don't have any ink."

Sasuke grinned. "Whenever you're ready."

 **Part Two**

"Oh so ' _ow_ you're 'ack." Kiba commented around the plastic needle cover as Sasuke entered the exam room. The dog on the table whined pitifully he eased the syringe into the dog's scruff. "Oh shut up, you do this every year." he said in exasperation as he ruffled the dog's neck fur and threw the recapped needle into the trash.

"I've been back for a week or two." Sasuke corrected. "I've been working out a lot of stuff in my system." He took a closer look at the dog. "That isn't-"

" _He_ isn't-. And yes, _he_ is Uhei, one of Kakashi-sensei's dogs." Kiba confirmed, plucking the next syringe off the desk, and readying it for use. "So what's up?"

"Are you, Shino, and Hinata free next Saturday?" Sasuke asked, warily eying Uhei. The dog whined and put on a face that could have melted butter.

Kiba caught the exchange. "Uhei, if we pups know some things that we aren't supposed to, but will make us better able to take care of ourselves and our pack, would you tell Kakashi?"

Uhei perked up and barked.

Kiba rolled his eyes, "I keep telling you, that's their choice, but yes, if I have to hold that over your heads to keep you from telling him then fine. Blackmail it is."

Uhei huffed and barked defiantly.

Akamaru barked up from the corner.

Kiba pointed back at his partner. "Exactly. What Akamaru said. We're telling you, they just won't like it at all. Then where will you get your treats?"

Uhei's shoulders slumped in defeat as he let out a whuff.

"That's what I thought." Kiba noted smugly before turning back to Sasuke. "Alright, he'll stay quiet. Speak freely." Kiba dug a piece of smoked dried meat out of his pocket and tossed it to Akamaru, who snapped it out of the air and got down to chewing loudly and happily.

Sasuke nodded to Akamaru, "Thanks-"

Akamaru gave a happy bark and a tail that furiously beat on the floor as an answer.

Sasuke let out a deep breath. "We need to have that Konoha Twelve meeting, we talked about earlier. I've talked with 'Kako, we're going to put privacy seals all over one of the buildings in the Uchiha complex and that's where we'll have it. And yes, it really is necessary."

Kiba nodded. "You said next saturday?"

"Yep, the girls are having their thing on sunday and it seems like we'll all be in the village."

"We'll be there, won't we Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked in response.

 **Part Three**

"So, we have a problem." Shikako began, exchanging a short glance with Sasuke as she spoke to the other nine in the room.

"We've 'had a problem' ever since Orochimaru showed up six months ago. Please get on with the elaboration." Neji commented blandly.

"You all remember when Naruto was nearly kidnapped by Itachi." Shikako continued.

Ino shifted where she stood across the room and Shikamaru tensed, the words " _and put you in the hospital screaming"_ going unsaid like an elephant in the room.

"It turns out he's not working alone." Sasuke elaborated. "He's part of an organization of nine shinobi, all after the bijuu, all S-Class psychopaths. They call themselves the Akatsuki. Known members are Kisame Hoshigaki and Sasori of the red sands."

The silence could have been cut with a knife.

Kiba whistled. "Add that to our problems with Orochimaru, Kumo, and that all of us know by now that an active Iwa bunker was found in inside our borders and we're getting ready to get caught up in some serious shit."

"I agree. Why? Because nine S-class missing-nin going after the bijuu can result in nothing good for us." Shino explained, clearly disturbed.

"Where is this information coming from?" Tenten inquired, frowning and folding her arms. "This doesn't sound like the kind of information we're supposed to have. Not at our level. "

"It's not, everything we know about them, which is pretty much everything we just told you, came straight from Itachi's mouth and was confirmed by Jiraiya, or was discovered by Jiraiya, and the only reason _he_ knows that much is because Orochimaru is a former member." Shikako answered, her eyes flicking over to the kunoichi. "In fact, Tsunade probably wouldn't be a fan if she knew I was telling you. But no one else seems to be doing anything, and since we're the ones who will be around Naruto the most when he comes back, Sasuke thought we should go ahead and get it out so we can start getting ready for them." she added hesitantly, folding her own arms up.

Tenten didn't seem to have anything to say to that. Ino, on the other hand...

"So let me get this straight, there's Kumo, Kusa, Iwa, Orochimaru, and nine other S-Class ninja including Itachi, the Tailless Tailed Beast, and Suna's puppet prodigy, and all of them are after Konoha in one way or another. And yet we're not supposed to know about _any_ of it?" She asked incredulously.

"That's only the beginning." Sasuke began. "Before Naruto left, he and Shikako were placed on a set of missions with a chunin named Sai, who eventually admitted to ninja taking orders from someone other than the Hokage and is high up enough for Sai to pass for ANBU. Me and Shikako think that whoever this is might be responsible for the Team seven info leaks that let Orochimaru send his people to intercept us."

Shikako shot him a shocked glance. "Sasuke-!"

"No, let him go on." Kiba demanded. "Does Tsunade know about this?"

Shikako let out an annoyed snort. "Yeah, there's no way she doesn't. His paperwork looked like it was invented the day before, I think those missions were meant to let him draw himself out a bit more."

Shino nodded. "That seems like a sound strategy." He commented thoughtfully.

"So, looks like the million ryo question is what do we do about all this." Choji commented through a new mouthful of chips.

Everyone turned to look at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru leveled a mild glare. "Off the top of my head?" He asked. "No idea, why don't we ask Sasuke, since apparently he's the one dragging us into all this?"

"It's not his fault, Shika." Shikako stated firmly. "We've talked about this."

Kiba was less tactful. "Shikamaru so help me if you choose _now_ to be illogical I can and will beat sense back into you." He said shortly, gaining the shocked attention of everyone in the room. "You're not the only one with a sister who's been in some shitty situations, and Shikako is _very_ capable of taking care of herself. Ask anyone here who saw her fight with Gaara. Get the fuck over it. We're shinobi, life-threatening danger is what we do for a living."

"Now," Kiba continued, turning to the other occupants. "As Choji suggested, any helpful ideas beyond 'get stronger and kill the bastards?'"

Sasuke hesitated before sighing. "The Uchiha archives are filled to the top with jutsu of every description and element. I'm willing to get you anything you want as long as it isn't Sharingan related."

"I'll let you all know if anything comes through Intel." Ino offered. "I'll probably stay in longer than Shikako will so…"

Shikako smiled slightly. "Thanks Ino, they dress in black cloaks with red clouds. I'll be keeping my eyes open as well."

"I cannot learn more than the most basic jutsu and tricks because of the chakra cost of my contract with my Kikai." Shino explained. "So I will begin breeding significantly more destructive and lethal Kikai instead." He slumped "As well as improving my Taijutsu."

"Yosh!" Lee cheered. "I will do the same! You are welcome to practice with us anytime, Shino!"

Shino nodded like a man walking to his death. "Thank you Lee."

"You are most welcome Shino!"

"I have an idea that I'll be working on to improve my two headed wolf drill." Kiba informed. "I guess now would also be a good time to annoy Hana into teaching me medical jutsu."

"She'd do that?" Ino asked.

"Well yeah. I can't see any reason why she wouldn't. Why? You want me to ask her if she'll teach you girls? Hinata said that medical stuff was why you started meeting every week. I don't think she'll have a problem teaching you as long as you know your anatomy."

Shikako and Ino exchanged a look. "Hell yes, Ino Yamanaka gets beat by no one."

Kiba shrugged. "Cool, anyone else? Tsunade's idea of having a medic on each team sounds good to me."

Tenten shook her head. "I've already tried. My control was never up to par."

Kiba waved a hand dismissively. "You don't need great control to be capable of saving a life. I don't, and I've saved plenty of dogs. Just pay me for the supplies and I'll make sure _all_ of us are up to scratch on non-chakra medic work and outfitted as well."

"I'll pay for everyone's supplies." Sasuke offered, in a tone of a man being reminded of something he'd rather forget.

Kiba frowned, "Sasuke do you even know how much-" he paused for a moment. "Nevermind, you're loaded. Sorry I forgot."

"I please continue forgetting, I really prefer not to think about it."

Tenten narrowed her eyes enviously. "You're so rich you forget about it?"

"What do you think I do with it? I have an average apartment, my clothes belonged to my cousins, and I earn plenty enough to pay my bills, and buy equipment and food. Other than the swords I commissioned I don't use it. Outfitting everyone with enough medical equipment to run a field hospital is the most useful thing the inheritance that I'd rather not have will ever do." Sasuke pointed out blankly. "In fact, this is the only time this building has been useful for any reason in the past six years. We wouldn't have even come here if all the seals on the walls weren't necessary."

"Speaking of Medical jutsu," Hinata began quietly, tapping her fingers together. "Should we tell Sakura-chan?"

"I wouldn't tell her about the serious stuff but if you can get her to teach you, I'd go ahead with it. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to train her up either. " Kiba suggested casually.

"Who's Sakura?" Neji asked.

"Sakura Haruno. She's a classmate of ours that moved into medical after graduation. Apparently now she's Tsunade's apprentice if the rumors are correct." Shikamaru answered boredly.

"They're true." Shikako confirmed shortly.

"If that is all," Shino started. "I will be leaving. Why? Because I must get to work on my part, and my sister has asked me to assist her in her own projects."

* * *

 **AN: Well, yeah, that little talk happened. The original version I had in mind was a little more... charged shall we say, between Shikamaru and Sasuke, but I couldn't get it to work. I'll also admit that some of the characters might not be written as well as they could be. Shikako I certainly seems to have problems with at times, on the one hand, she's somewhat socially and emotionally awkward, and tends to need a little prompting to open up, not pushing, just prompting, like how Shikaku does, and the same for how Ino has done with her experience in the Mangyeko and Sasuke does in "Arts," She tends to open up more if the other person opens up first, and then it just rolls from there. On the other hand she can easily be very forceful in her personality in the blink of an eye.**

 **Kiba, is also a character whose personality might be different from DOS and the show/manga. That's primarily because I see him not as the character who just can't seem to catch up to Naruto, but as the Thirteen year old who stabbed himself in the guts and told Sakon and Udon "Let's die together." My Kiba is capable of being boisterous and like Naruto (which is his way of motivating and encouraging his quieter and more reserved team), but he also is capable of being deathly serious when the situation calls for it.**

 **A note on Sasuke's wallet. I really hate it when fanfictions trivialize his large inheritance, they tend to use it so they can make an excuse for him to buy large amounts of expensive things (usually for a romantic interest), and it's completely fucking ridiculous. For Sasuke, it'd just be another reminder of the massacre, and the only reason he's using now is because he sees it as a way to avenge them and (in the case of the swords) to remember his mom, and to prevent Itachi from massacring his new family.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**


	12. Happy New Years

(Arts) Payback  
(Arts) Return, parts 1 and 2  
(Arts) Dealing with it 1  
DOS chapter 99, and in the evening (Arts) Dealing with it 2  
Sasuke leaves the DOS picture to do Kakashi's training  
(Arts) Pack and Hive  
DOS chapters 100-106  
(Arts) Long time no see (this chapter)  
DOS chapters 107-108

 _ **"WE got down to the business of working out when we could, actually, get down to business" Dos chapter 109**_

(Arts)Hard Topics; Part One  
(Arts) Getting Settled 1  
(Arts) Hard Topics; Parts Two and Three

 _ **"So between all the things demanding my time, I was almost surprised when New Year's snuck up on me. Konoha had a massive New Year's Eve Festival every year and it pretty much lasted from the afternoon games to the ringing of the bells at midnight to the taiko drums at dawn. Given that I was working the evening shift, I figured I would miss most of it. It was disappointing, but not overtly heartbreaking." Dos Chapter 109  
**_ (Arts) Happy New Years  
(Arts) Back in Action  
(Arts) Here There be Monsters  
Donahermurphy's snippet

Everything in Italics is directly pulled from DOS chapter 109, which belongs to Silver Queen, not me.

* * *

" _They didn't need to do that," Sasuke muttered to me quietly, after a few false starts._

" _It's not about_ _ **need**_ _," I said, glancing back at mum and dad walking arm in arm. They were taking their time. "Come on. I'll race you!" - DOS Chapter 109_

"Where to?" Sasuke asked, temporarily broken out of his thoughts as Shikako pulled him along with a smile on her face.

" _The Crane,_ " She answered. "Aoba invited me to a thing with the rest of the Special Jounin, so I figure we can drop by and get that out of the way. Then we can have the rest of the celebration with the rest of our friends. You know where that is?" She asked.

Sasuke nodded, _The Crane_ was a small, open air bar more similar to a food stand like Ichiraku's than a traditional bar. He'd met his squad captain there several times over the past weeks. "Yeah. Hey-!" He yelled as she took off like one of the fireworks he could hear over the lake. He raced after her, half feeling like he was flying as he took to the roof tops. He could see Shikako flitting along the streets below like a dragonfly as he overtook her in the final hundred meter stretch to the stall and, having beat her there, hid around the corner of a building on their side of the street.

With his chakra suppressed as far down as he could get it, combined with the riot of lights and sound, Shikako never saw it coming as she barreled out of the alley and he caught her by surprise as he pulsed his chakra signal loudly to avoid the result of the last time he startled her.

Her face was a picture in shock. "I beat you," Sasuke said smugly as he hugged her, pleased at his success in paying her back for the mischief she caught him in at the end of their mission to Wave Country.

"Yeah yeah, you're a regular little 'yellow flash.' No need to rub it in." She said, patting him on the arm.

He released her and they walked across the street to the collection of tables situated in a small not-alley that was beside a food stall and separated from the street with a banner like Ichiraku's that had a crane on it.

Shikako waved slightly as they approached and took seats, Shikako between Aoba and himself, while he sat reluctantly by Anko, who immediately pulled him into something resembling a headlock and he was forced to turn his head to the side to avoid being crushed.

"Hey squirt! You miss your big sister?" She said excitedly.

"Like a disease, and we're not related." He responded vehemently.

"Silly cat, anyone who was screwed over by psycho-bastard is my little brother! We're one big dysfunctional family!" she said, pulling him in tighter.

"Orochimaru is _not_ my father." Sasuke choked out.

Genma took out his senbon and tapped Anko on the shoulder. "Sweetheart, let him go, he's turning blue. You don't want to piss off Kakashi, and Shikako over there has a nasty talent with explosives, or so they say."

Anko took note of Sasuke's distinctly oxygen-needy coloration and let him go, patting him on the back. "Sorry! Got carried away there!" She apologized with a slightly embarrassed expression.

Shikako frowned and passed him a glass of water, which he drank greedily. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Just give me a minute." He coughed.

Shikako narrowed her eyes at Anko. "You sure, Sasuke?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." He assured her.

Conversation shifted to Anko trying for full Jounin and that Hayate was late picking up Yugao.

"They'll be here." Aoba affirmed, "Yugao just got back from a non-ANBU solo mission to Rivers yesterday, and they're probably just making up time."

Sasuke nearly choked on his daidai when Hayate spoke up as he and Yugao walked up, arms linked behind Aoba's seat. "We're here, we were, and what we do in our bed is none of your business, Aoba." Hayate paused to cough.

Aoba grinned and held up his hands in defence. "Hey, I'm just making an excuse for you. I'm on your side here."

Yugao rolled her eyes and placed the last chair between Anko and Sasuke. Hayate sat and that's when the Great Discussion started.

"So, Yugao tells me that you commissioned some swords. Tell me everything." He asked as Yugao sat in his lap.

"The smith is Miyairi Shohei, they are a katana-wakizashi pair and they're copies of Mom's swords." Sasuke began. " The overall length of the wakizashi is sixty-seven centimeters with a twenty centimeter handle and a forty-five centimeter blade. The overall length of the katana is ninety-four centimeters with a 26 centimeter handle and a sixty-eight-point-five centimeter blade." He explained to the sword coinessuers. "The handles are a new full tang design instead of the traditional two peg construction with two red maple handle scales and three rivets. The edges are saber grinds."

Hayate frowned. "The katana seems a little big for you."

"I'll grow into it, until then I'll be using the mass-production, or the wakizashi." Sasuke justified.

"I'm not planning to use both at the same time anyway."

"Steel?" He coughed.

"Not at all traditional, it's why it's taking so long. He tried it out on one sword, and found that the results were way better than starting with iron sand and now he's backed up with orders right up to the Daimyo's kids. From what he's telling me, he's taking broken parts of cranes and construction equipment or regular tools and making _them_ into swords."

Yugao frowned. "That's ridiculous. The blade would be way too hard and brittle, where is he getting the soft iron core to absorb the shock?"

"He's not. He's ditching the traditional approach altogether and tempering it so that the blade is more flexible, and that it how it absorbs the shock. It gives a few problems with edge alignment, but it's easy to get use to." Sasuke admitted. "It's new technology, and I think that they'll replace our katanas in ANBU, eventually. They are cheaper, because we can pay for the material by giving him our broken equipment. Mine is being made out of some of the weaponry that got left by Suna during the invasion. He bought it all. They are more durable. They hold an edge better, too."

Yugao raised an eyebrow. "I might have to borrow the katana when you do get it." She said. "It sounds like a perfect wedding present." She nudged Hayate.

"I heard." Hayate confirmed with a smile, tapping her upper arm. "Why saber grind? A convex grind is more durable, and it's not like you can't get a convex just as sharp as a saber."

"Yeah, but then the edge will be thicker and it won't as easy to produce deeper cuts." Sasuke debated.

"So which grind do kunai use?" Shikako asked, having finished her conversation with Ibiki.

"Flat," Sasuke answered. "If the blade has a triangular cross-section, It's a flat grind edge. But it produces a bad spine on a sword. Hollow grinds produce the sharpest, but they're fragile and prone to chipping."

"Besides," Hayate said grumpily. "Why would you know anything about swords? Your's is the Raijin no ken, you don't need to worry about metallurgy and edge grinds."

"You're just jealous it isn't yours." Sasuke pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"Guilty as charged."

" _Shikako!" Ino called merrily, waving across the street. Sakura was with her, looking apologetic. "There you are!"_

 _I clinked glasses with Sasuke and ducked out of the food stall. He nodded to me, but kept on talking with Hayate and his purple haired girlfriend about swords. There were opinions being had. Mine apparently didn't count. Well, the joke was on them because my sword went 'zshoom'._

"Not going to go with her?" Yugao asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "I'll wait a little while before meeting up with her again. I'd rather not have to deal with Haruno again unless I have no other choice."

"Wouldn't have thought you'd be scared of a civilian girl." Hayate poked.

Sasuke leveled a glare that could melt steel. "By the barest of technicalities, she's not. And you'd be wary too if the most persistent of your fangirls suddenly made an appearance after spending the last seven months learning in a hospital, the last four of which was spent learning part time under Tsunade. And considering how much time my team seems to require the skill of high level medics, I have a right to be worried."

"And the other girl?"

"Ino? She's okay. She was almost as irritating as Sakura in the Academy, but then we went through enough high stress missions our first and second chunin exams, the invasion. I realized that she wasn't as idiotic and ditzy as she first appears, and she's been broken of whatever illusions she had about me. We'll never be that close of friends, but she's not that bad to work with as teammates." Catching a glance of Team eight out of the corner of his eye, he made his leave and headed over.

"Sasuke!" Kiba greeted. "Welcome to the year of the dog!"

"Hn. Kiba, Shino, Hinata. Akamaru." He greeted in return. "Where are you headed?"

"The lake." Shino answered.

"We're going to watch the fire dancing!" A little girl in sunshine yellow exclaimed from her place on Shino's back.

"Ah, yes. You have not met my sister, have you, Sasuke?" Shino asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "Not officially, though I think I saw her when I had to talk to Kiba once."

Shino looked over his shoulder. "Chiyako, Sasuke."

"Hi!" Chiyako announced happily, letting go of Shino's neck with one arm so she coud wave at him.

"It's good to meet you." Sasuke returned politely.

"So where's Shikako?" Kiba asked. "I would have thought you'd be with her."

"With Ino and Haruno."

"I-Is that Shikamaru and Tenten?" Hinata asked hesitantly as Chiyako ran off toward Shikako, who was with the other two girls about a hundred meters away, turning on her byakugan and then very quickly turning it off with a blush.

Kiba looked over carefully. "Wow, yeah, it's them. And I think they're sucking face too."

Shino frowned thoughtfully. "I must admit, I did not see that coming. Why? Because I did not know that they knew each other that well." He paused. "I wonder if her team knows?"

Kiba froze. "Shino Aburame." He said, turning to look him in the eyes with an expression of horror and awe. "That is the most evil thing I have ever heard of bar Orochimaru." Kiba drug Shino up by the hand. "You are fucking brilliant!" Kiba exclaimed as he drug a furiously protesting Shino off in search of Rock Lee and Gai.

"Oh this cannot be good." Sasuke muttered as he left in search of a street vendor that sold good luck charms. He was going to be prepared this year.

"Happy New Years." Sasuke said as he sat down beside Shikako.

"Hey, where have you been? You win that argument?" Shikako asked, passing him a bottle of sake.

"It was a draw and Team eight." He answered, taking a sip and passing it back along with an omamori.

Shikako accepted it awkwardly. "Thanks." She said, weighing it in her hand. "You didn't have to."

Sasuke shrugged and held up his own. "Believe me, I did. I figured we'd be better prepared this year."

Shikako let out a short laugh at that. "Yeah," She giggled, "I suppose we should."

* * *

Omake 2

"Shikako!" Sasuke called as he furiously searched his house. "Have you seen my Chakra Saber?"

"What!?"

"Have you seen, my chakra saber?!" He asked again.

"I think I put it away. Why do you need it?" Shikako asked, stumbling out of the bathroom looking sick and holding her back and very round stomach.

"Because I need it!" Sasuke yelled from across the house. "Our village is in danger!"

"How warm my bed is is in danger!"

"And I am deeply sorry about that! But Kumo is doing stupid shit at the border. This is for the greater good!" He argued.

Shikako stormed down the hall. "Chiyako is good enough to take care of that! And I am the greatest good you are ever going to get!"

* * *

 **A** **N: Well, there it is. I hope you all enjoy it! Yeah, as for the second Omake, I couldn't get that out of my head. And if you don't know what that is ripped off of, I deeply pity you.**


	13. Aftermath

(Arts) Payback  
(Arts) Return, parts 1 and 2  
(Arts) Dealing with it 1  
DOS chapter 99, and in the evening (Arts) Dealing with it 2  
Sasuke leaves the DOS picture to do Kakashi's training  
(Arts) Pack and Hive  
DOS chapters 100-106  
(Arts) Long time no see (this chapter)  
DOS chapters 107-108

 _ **"WE got down to the business of working out when we could, actually, get down to business" Dos chapter 109**_

(Arts)Hard Topics; Part One  
(Arts) Getting Settled 1  
(Arts) Hard Topics; Parts Two and Three

 _ **"So between all the things demanding my time, I was almost surprised when New Year's snuck up on me. Konoha had a massive New Year's Eve Festival every year and it pretty much lasted from the afternoon games to the ringing of the bells at midnight to the taiko drums at dawn. Given that I was working the evening shift, I figured I would miss most of it. It was disappointing, but not overtly heartbreaking." Dos Chapter 109  
**_ (Arts) Happy New Years  
(Arts) Back in Action  
(Arts) Here There be Monsters  
(Arts) Aftermath  
Donahermurphy's snippet

* * *

With the Jashinist subdued and unconscious, there wasn't much left to do besides further secure their prisoner and begin combing the dead for their missing Genin Corps ninja.

"What should we do about-?" Shikako asked as Aoba passed them a couple pictures of the two ninja, gesturing vaguely about the bodies lying everywhere.

"Nothing." Aoba answered shortly. "Not our problem. We'll need to catalogue specific cause of death for all of them, which we can't do if they're six feet under or burned. Unless we get assigned back to this, it's another team's issue. A report will be written and the Daimyo will be alerted. But other than writing a mission report and transferring the prisoner to T&I, the three of us can wash our hands of this."

Shikako nodded, faintly disturbed by the answer.

"The genin are another story. Seal them up. We have to take them back home. Konoha has a 'no one left behind' policy, and their families are going to want to know what happened." Aoba added turning to comb the north side of the town.

Sasuke turned to face Shikako. "I'll take east and south. I still have enough chakra for a shadow clone and to still be combat capable."

For a moment it looked as though she was going to disagree, but she just nodded and spread her hands. "I'll take west then."

Sasuke made his shadow clone and turned to search their parts of the village.

"Wait, both of you." Shikako added. "Don't use your sharingan."

The Sasuke clone looked at him to confirm.

"Yeah." the original Sasuke agreed. "No sharingan." " _I don't want any more of this in my head."_

They all left to search their separate sections and Sasuke was left with the unenviable task of wrenching dead bodies firmly in the grasp of rigor mortis to compare their bloated, pale faces to the pictures Aoba gave him. " _I don't think not using sharingan is going to stop me from remembering all this."_ He thought sickly as he knelt in the squishy ropes of a girl's intestines to check her face, which matched perfectly. " _That's one down."_ He shook himself as he wiped the blood off his knees. " _I should have worn long pants."_ He grabbed the genin's ankles and drug her corpse off to the side so he could seal it.

"Uchiha, Aoba said your team required backup. Report."

Sasuke turned to look at the cat-masked figure in black. " _Yugao-taicho."_

"We thought we did. We arrived at 1300 and found the entire town dead. Assuming a larger number of shinobi, Aoba sent a crow for immediate back up and we proceeded with caution." Sasuke began. "We found the one shinobi responsible, or at least a civilian with capabilities for using chakra higher than usual, because he was capable of seal-less replacement and a summoning jutsu. We fought him and left him restrained with a knockout tag in the middle of the village." Sasuke held up the scroll. "We're looking for our genin now. I've found one. I think Aoba said that the other was in a town even closer to our Hot Springs coast border." Sasuke paused. "That one's probably slaughtered too, taicho."

Yugao hopped down from the roof. "My team is searching the village. We'll find the other genin after we're done here as well."

Sasuke nodded. "Aoba is on the north side. Shikako is on the west. I have a shadow clone in the south."

"Tell them to collect the prisoner and go back to Konoha immediately. Ibiki's going to want him ASAP." Yugao ordered.

Later, after their reports were handed in, their dead genin turned over, and the culprit placed in one of T&I's cells. Shikako, Aoba, and Sasuke found themselves back in front of Tsunade giving a verbal report.

"Why is it that you can't have one, just one mission go according to plan?" Tsunade ranted to herself. "And why can't I ever see anything to suggest that it was actually your fault?" Tsunade fumed. "Just please get out of my office. It is too late in the day for this shit. I will call you back if we need anything else."

"That went so much better than I thought it would." Sasuke breathed in relief as they left the Hokage tower and Aoba made his leave.

"How did you think it would go?" Shikako asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, but worse than that." He responded.

Shikako looked as though she was going to say something about that , but then she shook her head and abandoned it. "You're coming over later right?"

"Wouldn't miss it." Sasuke confirmed. " _For now, I need a shower."_ He grimaced, thinking of the gunk on his legs and arms from the bodies.

Sasuke flared his chakra signal as he knocked on the door. This was the first time he'd been back to the Nara's since the New Year's festival, and he was still confused about their acceptance of him into their celebrations.

"Welcome back," Shikaku greeted warmly. He opened the door wider and stepped to the side to let Sasuke in. "Shikako is out back with Shikamaru."

"Thank you." Sasuke replied.

"So, first mission out since the Exams." Shikaku continued. "How was it?" He asked way too casually.

" _Yeah, because there's no fucking way the Jounin Commander doesn't know that his daughter's first real mission out of the village with her teammate in three months ended with the uncovery of two civilian villages and two Genin slaughtered by a single man."_ Sasuke thought wryly. He nearly said it too, before he recognized it for what it was and felt a wave of appreciation crash over him. While he didn't particularly relish his promised conversation with Shikako about walking into another massacre, and he didn't feel great about discussing it with her father, he got the idea that maybe Shikaku was asking him so he could ask Shikako. That, Sasuke felt he could deal with, and if that wasn't the case, he could at least treat it as though it was. Sasuke opened his mouth to speak and then thought better of it as he pondered where to begin. "The smell was the worst part." He finally started. "Other than kneeling in guts." He conceded with disgust.

Shikaku leaned back against the wall. "It generally is." He agreed calmly, a clear invitation to go on.

Sasuke felt his mouth go dry. "The sight of it all wasn't as bad, I only had my Sharingan on for the fight, and I was only looking at our opponent, whoever he was. I-" Sasuke let a breath out his nose. "I don't know how it was for Shikako. She handled it better than I thought she would." He snapped his head up. "Not that I thought she wouldn't be able to." He added. "I just thought she'd be more disturbed, considering… Considering she's never seen that before." He pushed out.

Shikaku tilted his head back and seemed to consider his next words. "His name is Kiyoshi Himura, he's a member of a religious cult out of the Land of Hot Springs that worship their god by spreading mass murder." He explained. "Kiyoshi was very willing to explain his motivations. None of which are classified." He assured.

"That's… How many are there?" Sasuke asked.

"No idea. It's only been four hours." Shikaku pointed out before making his way off toward the kitchen.

Sasuke found Shikako on the back portion of the deck with a shogi board and her brother in front of her. "Hey." He greeted, taking a seat beside her.

"Hey, yourself." She returned with a smile, clicking a tile onto the board in a cautious advance. "You know anything else?" She asked casually.

Sasuke nodded and studied the board, "Your dad filled me in on a little of it. It's not classified apparently."

Shikamaru huffed in irritation "I'm not even going to ask." He said, rolling his eyes and getting up to stretch.

"Not going to finish?" Shikako asked with a frown.

Shikamaru shook his head. "I'm going out. I'll be back in an hour." He excused, walking away.

Shikako frowned and looked at him before raising an eyebrow. "You want to finish?" She asked with a look that could have given one of the Inuzuka's puppies a run for its money.

He snorted and rolled his eyes before moving himself to the opposite side of the board. "You're ridiculous."

She stuck her tongue out at him in response. "So what'd dad have to say about it?"

Sasuke repeated what he was told and moved a tile carefully before adding "He didn't have to leave."

Shikako shook her head and sighed. "He's just going to find Tenten, most likely." Shikako tilted her head. "That's an interesting move." She commented as she swiped his piece.

"Clearly, I'm just prolonging the inevitable." Sasuke answered not-so-jokingly. The corner of her mouth turned up in response and she reached for her drink. "You know," Sasuke said as he reinforced his king defense, "Kiba told me about what Tsume said."

She expelled the drink in a fine mist and a series of hacking coughs. "Thanks jerk, I had almost forgotten that." She said, clearly displeased.

Sasuke smiled back disarmingly. "He's not interested, in case you were wondering. Nor did he seem pleased at what she did." He informed, a little happy jump in his stomach at her displeased reaction towards the reminder.

"Oh good." She said, shoulders slumping in relief. "I don't have the time for that bullshit right now." She narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion. "Something funny?"

Sasuke moved a piece and nodded. "So I guess we're even for the teasing about what's in my mom's letters?" he asked innocently.

Shikako's eyes widened and she looked down at the board with a faint grin on her face as she remembered the incident. "Oh that was... Wow. I was not expecting that. Yeah, I uh, guess we are."

Sasuke gestured to the board. "Next move?" He offered cautiously, trying to get his message across.

Shikako met his look with one of suprise, and then one of pure mischief. "Oh don't worry," She said, finally clicking a tile into place. "I've got a plan."

* * *

 **AN: Well, now that arc is finally over. Finally. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	14. Just a little bit braver

**AN:** **So…. long time no see, or write, or post. I've been preoccupied with a lot of things for a while. From about the time of my last post to August I didn't have anything to write about due to the content of the chapters in DOS being put out. From August til now, well, for those of you who aren't tracking I enlisted in the National Guard and have been busy with Basic Combat Training and I'm now in Advanced Individual Training for my military job (68W or Combat Medic btw).**

 **About "Arts," well, try to put my chapters on the land of hot springs (Back in Action, Here there be Monsters, and Aftermath) out of your mind, Silver Queen did them far better, and I might even delete them. This chapter takes place during/in lieu of DoS chapter 125.**

 **Anything in _bold/italics_ isn't mine, I pulled it straight from DoS chapter 125**

 **….**

 ** _He snorted. "I wondered- you know, I_** **wondered** ** _-" he cut himself off, clearing his throat. " How could it be worse than anything I imagined?" He gave a sound that might have qualified as a laugh, if it wasn't so helpless._**

 _ **"You thought he left you alive because he loved you," I said, because the truth carved it out of me. It was a line of attack I was already committed to, too far in to pull back, to turn aside.**_

 _ **(He did, he did Sasuke. He loved you more than anyone, more than his family, more than his village. And that's why you're alive.)**_

 _ **Sasuke flinched and pulled away. "So stupid," he hissed, eyes falling shut. "I thought. That maybe he just… couldn't." It seemed torn out of him, as though he was being gutted by this conversation.**_

 _ **And this was it, wasn't it? This was the time. I knew the truth. Sasuke needed to know it. Danzo was still lurking around the edges and while knowing the truth might put him in danger, not knowing it might also.**_

 _ **Your brother loves you, I pictured saying. You aren't wrong. He couldn't. There are things rotten in Konoha and you need to**_ **_know-_**

 _ **But I remembered those eyes. The shape of them so similar to Sasuke. The eyelashes that were long and delicate. The red, red inhumanness of them, spiralling and spinning. The feel of the cold, dry hand around my neck and the press of stone against my back.**_

 _ **The feeling of oil sliding slickly past my eyes, burning into my brain-**_

 _ **"But he came back," Sasuke said. "He came back, like once wasn't enough and he-" he cut himself off, spinning on his heel and facing me, expression slamming closed. "I shouldn't be talking about this with you."**_

 ** _(Your brother loved you, Sasuke.)_**

 _ **"Who else are you going to talk about it with?" I asked, logically, perfectly calm. "You know I'm always willing to listen."**_

 _ **I didn't have evidence, that was the thing. The Uchiha records proved nothing, even if I could show them to him without arousing suspicion. The closest I had was Sai and he couldn't say anything about Danzo – and that only proved that Danzo was acting at all. Sai knew nothing about the Uchiha situation. Knew nothing about Itachi.**_

 _ **Even if I said, even if I tried to console him right now, tried to soften the blow of this information, tried to spare his feelings… would I only stir it up further? Would I only introduce more pain and confusion?**_

 _ **"Yeah, I know," Sasuke said. "You want him dead too."**_

 _ **My eyes slid away, my own words – of a sort – parroted back to me. I couldn't say they were wrong.**_

 _ **"I-" I stammered, that cold logic deserting me for a second and I felt-**_

 _ **it was on the tip of my tongue, it was -**_

I closed my eyes, steeled myself, and made a decision. Just like the Akatsuki, a long time ago, I had always told myself that if I got a chance, got evidence, I would try my best to tell him, to give him a chance to decide whether he wanted to forgive Itachi like he had in canon, but before he killed his brother and rendered dead any chance of reconciliation. I had _promised_ myself that, before I met the man, before Tsukiyomi, because I cared about Sasuke, because I didn't want him to break his own heart and not realize it until after he couldn't fix it. And because I still cared about him, even moreso now than how I used to, I decided that even though I'd never be able to forgive Itachi, even though I thought he was better off dead, even though I wanted to help kill Itachi myself, that Sasuke still deserved that chance, that giving him what little I had was better than giving him nothing at all. Was better than waiting until I had the full evidence of what happened, because by that time, it might still be too late.

 ** _"-I want you to be okay," I said, weighing the words like they were something as precious as gold._** "And as much as I hate him, I'm not going to, would never want to get in the way of you reconciling with him if that was what you ended up wanting to do." I finished quietly. "I'm never going to forgive him, I can't, not after… that. But I want you to be okay more than I want him dead."

Sasuke looked… confused? Angry? "Why, why would I ever want to make things better with him? Hasn't he torn away enough from me, and come back to do it a second time, that would totally destroy any thought I might have of making things better? Even if he came right here and begged me to forgive him, killed himself to make things right with me, I wouldn't forgive him. Not after what he did to you and Kakashi, what he plans to do to Naruto." Sasuke faced me, walking closer until he wasn't more than an arm's length away. "You're worth more to me than he could ever be now." He said, squeezing his fists until they were white.

My mouth went dry, both because of what he had said, and because of what I needed to tell him. Would I still mean as much to him now that he knew what I had held onto. "When Itachi… put me under Tsukiyomi, he was aiming for you." I whispered slowly, looking down at the ground as I tried to drag the words out from somewhere deep, deep inside that hurt to dredge up. "To show you what… what he did to your family." I looked up cautiously, wanting to know what his reaction to that would be. He… he didn't look suprised. "You're, you're not…."

Sasuke sat down slowly and pulled his knees into his chest. "He did it to me right after, it makes sense that that would be what he'd want to hurt me with again." He answered quietly.

I nodded. "After I got out, felt like I needed to know their names, and coming to you just seemed like it would hurt you more, so I went to the Archives to look up their pictures, and," I paused to figure out how I would start to say what I needed to say, what he needed to hear, " a lot of the people I found weren't killed the way that he showed me that he did."

Sasuke's eyes were on me like a falcon's.

I swallowed. "For a while I didn't think much of it. He could have done it to make things more awful for you, or because he didn't remember all the details after so long. But, it also could have meant that he had an accomplice." I continued, the words spilling out in an unstoppable rush. Like blood from an artery. "Then Sai happened, and he was weird at first, but then he basically flat out told us that someone other than the Hokage was giving orders to a group of people that could have passed for ANBU. Orders that would have been bad for our allies and you had been getting orders after Orochimaru that weren't trustworthy and came from high up enough that we couldn't track them, information being passed to Orochimaru from somewhere too high up to track that put you in danger. And then I remembered, 'wait, wasn't Itachi ANBU too?" I stopped, tears slipping out as I tried force out as much I as could reasonably explain. "And maybe I'm wrong, I'm probably wrong, cause all of my evidence is barely tied together if, it is at all. Maybe Itachi went crazy from all the stress and left you alive because he still did love you. Maybe he did it because he's evil and he wants to steal your eyes to cure his own. But there's also the chance that he was blackmailed, ordered, threatened, or manipulated into it, and he left you alive 'cause that's all he could get away with."

Sasuke had gone still, so very, very still, like he had turned to stone or struck by lightning. His eyes blown wide, half horrified, half betrayed. His breathing was shallow. "Why didn't-?" He stopped, like he couldn't, like the rest of the question was just too hard to yank out.

"Why didn't I tell you?" I asked for him. "Because I don't have any actual proof, because I thought it might hurt you more to say it when I can't even prove it. Because I thought saying it would put you in more danger than you already are, that if you knew, it would just make things worse, especially if all you had weren't solid facts." I answered, half pleading, half feeling that I didn't deserve whatever I was pleading for. "When you joined ANBU, I was so scared. Now you were right in the middle of it, and I couldn't tell you then, because you'd definitely be in danger if you wouldn't have been before."

"That's why you were so uptight about Yakumo." He accused, but the tone didn't match.

I closed my eyes and nodded, and waited for judgement. Would he be angry? Even if he wasn't would he ever trust me again? Were we still friends? My breath hitched as I felt him reach over and grab my forearm firmly, and then he yanked me into him.

"I am so angry right now." He said hoarsely as he pulled me into a hug. "But if you think that means anything's changed you're so, so wrong."

I breathed out heavily, so relieved I felt lightheaded. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

He snorted, and pulled away to wipe his eyes. He sighed. **_"It doesn't matter," he said heavily, mouth twisting. "It's not okay but it doesn't change anything. At least now I know."_**

 _ **My heart was hammering like I was in the middle of a fight.**_

 _ **"Sure," I said, the word emerging like a bubble through molasses.**_

 _ **"We should go back," he said, reaching out and fingertips barely brushing my elbow, like he was escorting me.**_

 _ **I gave him a weak smile. "You know, this probably makes me a bad friend, but I'm absolutely okay with leaving Sakura to explain everything to the Hokage."**_

 _ **He snorted. "Ah yes, I see what your friendship is worth." He tugged me onwards, clearly meaning to leave the destruction behind us.**_

 ** _You don't know the half of it, I thought, eyeing him sideways._**

 ** _"I guess there's a lot of damage control to do," I agreed._**


	15. Little Shadow

AN: Sorry about the wait, this chapter has been stumping me for months, and I only managed to finish it with the help of Donahermurphy tonight. So all thanks to her. Please remember to review, this story has a lot of follows, and although you clearly like it enough to follow it, I'd like to know why or know if you have any suggestions/commentary. Besides, if I'm doing something that needs improvement, this is the best way for me to know. This is the first chapter I've had a proofreader on, I normally don't have one. Reviewers catch issues I don't. Also, from now on, chapters are in chronological order.

 **Anything like this I took from chapter 127.**

It was a good thing that Ino told Sasuke last. If she had been any earlier he would have still been on shift doing patrol duty. As it was, she caught him just as he was about to unlock his apartment and try his very best to forget the clusterfuck Tora had caused on the north side of the village. And shower, there was no way he was going to do anything without washing the mess Tora had caused to spill all over his clothes

"Sasuke!" Ino yelled, pushing through the desire to to make a comment on how cheerful he looked covered in so much yellow.

The ANBU twitched, suppressing the urge to jump like a cat with his tail stepped on at the sound of Ino's voice so close in his ear. He spun, noting the excited but jumpy posture she displayed. "What?" he replied, a slightly crazed look in his eyes as they met hers. " _Please, not another batch of weird shit. It doesn't even have to be good, just not something that Genma's gonna bitch at me about later."_

"Yoshino-san's having the baby." She blurted out, breathing heavily.

"Great." He said, before the news completely processed. And then it did, and his mind went blank and frozen before exploding into " _Holy shit don't panic! This is great, this is wonderful, I need to get to the hospital, quick, quick, quick, quick…."_

Thankfully Ino reminded him about the two gallons of paint covering every inch of his clothes or the maternity ward would have been redecorated.

An hour or two later he finally checked into the Maternity Ward as a visitor and took a seat next to Shikako. "Have I missed anything?" He asked in not quite a whisper.

"Nope. Mom's been in labor for the past two hours or so. Shika's in with here and Dad right now." She replied, nose firmly in her book, some adventure paperback he'd never heard of, and looking very much like it wasn't providing as much of a distraction as she'd hoped.

Sasuke frowned, pushing aside any Shikamaru-related apprehension in favor of leaning over in his seat and resting his cheek on his folded hands. "You alright?" He whispered. "You look like you want to run clear across town. She's gonna be alright, she had the two of you at once. This has got to be less complicated than that."

"I'm fine." She answered shortly, but not unkindly. "Being a sensor isn't as great as it sounds right now."

"You can't feel her pain can you?" He asked hesitantly, confused and feeling rather awkward as he said it.

Shikako shook her head. "No, but her chakra signature keeps flaring and stuff and it's like an itch I can't ignore."

Then Shikamaru stumbled out, looking as though he had just broken a rather disturbing genjutsu and grey as a corpse. **"You can go in."** He offered faintly as he sat down on Shikako's other side.

"Nope." She refused quietly,leaning her head back and placing her book open-faced atop her own. "I'm quite content not seeing that."

Inoichi chuckled and patted Shikako's head as he moved to take Shikamaru's place, joking that Shikaku had apparently needed reassurance of his own.

Sasuke made a face at that, wondering absentmindedly what exactly Shikaku may have needed someone to hold _his_ hand for.

"Sounds like a story." Shikako commented, her voice muffled by the book and sounding very much like that was a story she did not wish to hear.

Sasuke cast a glance around, feeling not for the first time if Ino was sure he was supposed to have been invited for this, and noticed Tenten, looking even more awkward than he did, and sitting several seats away from Shikamaru. " _That's strange. Now why they avoiding each other?"_ He stole a glance at Shikamaru and came upon his answer. " _Oh, he's just not thinking about anything but Yoshino-san. How unfortunate for her."_ He realized sympathetically.

Then Shikamaru seemed to notice his presence, narrowing his eyes, and taking advantage of the book obscuring Shikako's vision as he signed "Why are _you_ here?"

"Ino told me." Sasuke signed back shortly, scratching at the corner of his mouth and tapping the fingernails of his right thumb and little finger together.

Shikamaru cast a thoughtful glance at the girl, but Sasuke stole back his attention before he could say anything to Ino. "Before scolding her about inviting me, try paying attention to Tenten, she looks uninvited." He signed.

Shikamaru looked like he was grinding his teeth together at that before he hid the reaction and made his way over to the girl.

" _Crisis averted."_ Sasuke thought with relief as he shifted his attention back to Shikako. "How are things?" He whispered.

"Worse."

He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms, " _Who would have been at mine?"_ Sasuke wondered, allowing himself the thought. " _Father and Shisui, certainly. But who for Mom? Kushina, perhaps? Sakumo was dead by that time…."_ He trailed off, realizing that he had completely forgotten to tell Shikako what he had discovered from his mother's journals. He shoved it aside. " _Not now. Later, when it's a little more private."_

An increase in noise brought his attention to the nurses that were emptying out the room and Inoichi making his way back to them. Shikako removed the book from her head.

 **Inoichi was smiling. "They're just moving them to an overnight room." He said. "Then we can go and visit."**

 **Shikamaru let out a very long sigh and sagged into the plastic hospital chair. "What a drag."**

 **Ino rolled her eyes at him. "You didn't even do anything," she pointed out. "Come on, at least carry the flowers!"**

He followed everyone over to Yoshino's hospital room and filed in with the rest, moving over to a spot by the wall. He checked the time and mentally cursed, he had an appointment with the ANBU Commander, Badger, an hour from now. He had meant to take a short nap beforehand, but this had taken precedence. And then Shikaku took an impossibly small swaddled bundle from Yoshino.

 **Shikaku cleared his throat. "I'm pleased to introduce the newest member of our family," he said. "Kinokawa Nara." He tilted the bundle towards us and Shikamaru stepped up to hold it.**

 **"After my family,"Yoshino murmured quietly.**

 **"Kino-chan, huh?" Shikamaru asked.**

Yoshino caught his eye, and beckoned him over. "I'm glad you're here." She whispered. "I wondered if Ino would be able to find you, with you being on patrols."

Sasuke's mouth went dry. "I'm honored." He murmured, turning his sharingan on as he watched the goings on to immortalize them forever in his mind.

"You're family." Yoshino reassured him, so quietly that he questioned if his imagination hadn't supplied it. Except for that even in his wildest hopes, that wouldn't have been something to feature. "Even if Shikamaru refuses to acknowledge it."

Sasuke felt like he had been punched in the guts. "Thank you." He returned, equally as quiet. "I have to go. Congratulations, Yoshino-san."

 **"Aww," Ino cooed, leaning over my shoulder. "He's got his mom's eyes. Going to be such a heartbreaker when you grow up, aren't you?"**

Shikako looked baffled about the statement, and Sasuke had to admit that he felt the same.

 **"Uh, congratulations."** he stated. " **I have to go. So. Congratulations."** Sasuke offered, Sharingan still on as he watched Shikako hold the baby in her arms, something about the sight making him eternally grateful that he would remember it in perfect detail for as long as he lived.

" **You're going to leave without holding him?"** Shikako asked.

Sasuke looked at Shikaku, silently asking him for permission. Shikaku nodded and made a 'go ahead' motion with his hands. And then Shikako carefully passed the little bundle into his arms.

"It's a promotion to captain, you know." Shikaku tapped out on his shoulder. "Stay as long as you like." The Nara patriarch said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If you have a meeting, I'll make your excuse."


	16. Safe and Sound

**AN:** **Alright, I admit it, the reason this chapter...and the next two really, took so long to come out was because I was a lazy, unmotivated piece of shit. SQ, our glorious queen, posted nearly four chapters in the time it took to get this tiny one out and that is truly pathetic of me...Unfortunately, I'm not seeing when that is going to stop. But I'll make an attempt to fix myself, and until then, ENJOY...Also it should be fairly obvious when this takes place.**

* * *

It wasn't the night after Shikako came home, or the night after that, or even the night after that. It wasn't the fourth, or the fifth, or even the sixth night after she came home from the disaster in what was the Land of Hot Springs that she had her first nightmare. It was a full week and a half after she stepped foot back in her own house, and slept in her own bed that she awoke from it with thundering heart and sweat soaked sheets that she had remembered to use to muffle her scream only just before it tore it's way out of her throat. She barely made it to the toilet in time to disgorge everything she had eaten recently with the overpowering taste of blood in her mouth as she tried to push every last fluid ounce of Aoba's blood that she had been forced to drink out of her stomach.

Sasuke was dozing in mission-sleep on the couch, as he had ever since he'd come home with his friend the first time, when he felt Shikako's chakra come awake with a violent, terrified snap and as he shot awake, heard the slap of her feet on the floor as she rushed across the hall.

He might have stopped if that had been all, knocked on the bathroom door and asked if she was alright before going back to half-sleep, but then, the bathroom door was open, and his best friend and beloved was purging like she had just swallowed charcoal voluntarily as a poison extractor. So instead he turned on the cold water and dropped two washcloths in the sink to soak it all up. Then he knelt beside her, running his fingers through her hair as he pulled and held it out of the way as she puked again.

Pulling one of the washcloths out of the sink and pressing it against the side to wring it out, he slipped the fabric underneath Shikako's hair and draped it across her neck.

Shikako shuddered in relief, the feeling of the cold, thin, clear liquid that was most definitely _not_ blood running down her neck washing most of the immediate nausea away. She sobbed in a breath, grimacing at the acrid smell that came with it. "Thanks." She muttered shakily, taking the second cloth from his waiting hand and wiping her mouth with it.

He nodded. "Anytime." He whispered. He paused. "Ginger tea?" He asked hesitantly. "It'll help with the nausea."

She nodded, needing to taste something better than acid or blood, "Please…. I-I'm gonna take a shower, so I'll be down in a minute." She added after a moment, because he was still sitting back on his heels beside her.

"Alright." He responded, climbing to his feet. "It'll be ready by the time you're done."

"Sasuke?" She said, halting him at the door, "Can you just bring it to my room? I don't want anyone else to hear." She explained, accurately guessing that he would want an explanation, and deciding that she wanted to give it to him.

...

Sasuke put the tea, enough for two, on slowly, keeping his movements quiet to not wake up the rest of the house, a packet of ginger for nausea, lavender for anxiety, and chamomile for easy sleep. As he waited for the tea to boil, he sat down at the table to think. " _Beloved?"_ he asked himself, the word having come unasked into his head as he walked in on Shikako. He considered how he'd felt about her, the way she'd made him feel, since the Grass exams- no, since _He_ had put her in the hospital in his stead. Really considered them, and not pushed it aside and denied it like he'd been doing up until tonight. " _I do love her."_ He admitted silently. " _I love you, Shikako. I think you are the bravest, smartest, most creative, and amazing, and powerful, and beautiful person I know. You're the best friend I've ever had or will have and I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."_ He announced in the depths of his mind where he was brave enough to say it because no one could hear it, a small smile growing on his face and a feeling inside like a sun was about to burst.

The teapot screamed, and Sasuke swiftly took it off the stove to let the tea cool and steep. Then he took two cups, the one he'd noticed was Shikako's preferred plus an extra, and filled them with water before putting them in the microwave to warm them up in preparation for the tea. Not long afterward, he heard the water cut off from the shower and then Shikako's feet move across the hall back to her room.

Sasuke took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and let it out slowly as the microwave beeped. Figuring out how to deal with his newly accepted feelings would have to wait. Shikako needed him as a friend, and only as a friend tonight. So that's what he would continue to give her. He dumped the water out from the cups, squeezed a generous amount of honey all around the walls of Shikako's cup, and filled both with tea. _  
_

...

"You can come in." Shikako answered, dressed in a fresh pair of blues cut off at the knees and elbows, as soon as she heard the knock on her door.

Sasuke carefully opened the door, and stepped into her room, holding both cups in one hand by their handles. Once he softly closed the door behind him, he passed her mug off to his other hand and held it out to her as he approached her bed.

"Thanks," Shikako said gratefully, flipping up the blankets off the mattress so he could sit down next to her as she took the tea from him.

"You know," Sasuke began lightly. "I found out who those people were, the ones from Mom's team photo."

"Hmm?" She asked, holding her tea close to enjoy the warmth, relaxed into the fragrant taste and smell of it as she took a drink. She smiled. "This is Ino's recipe." She noted. "You even got the honey right."

"Yeah. She wrote it on my arm when she visited the night you came back." He confirmed.

"Hmmm. So who were they?" She asked as she sunk down further into the pillows.

"It _was_ Kakashi's father. Sakumo, Konoha's 'White Fang,' that Chakra Saber was his first before it was Kakashi's." He should have saved it for _his_ son. Sasuke didn't say.

Shikako nudged his arm with hers. He did. She didn't say.

"I did some digging, and Sakumo killed himself when Kakashi was seven after failing a mission that kicked off the Third War to save some wounded teammates. The boy with the bow turned out to be the guy mom was writing those letters to, Hibiki Hayate. He's dead now, got killed at the Kumo border when Yugito turned up." He paused. "The redheaded girl was Kushina Uzumaki, and I'm pretty sure she's Naruto's mom. They were best friends too."

"Naruto will be overjoyed when he hears. I'm glad you're finding all this out." Shikako whispered. "Any clue on who his dad was?" She asked, lowering her cup.

"The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze." Sasuke answered as he sipped his tea.

Shikako snorted. "No wonder they wouldn't let anyone know."

Sasuke nodded. "I found out another thing about that boyfriend of moms too." He added. "They were going to get married before he died. They were going to do what your parents did."

Shikako paused. "Your parents didn't care much for each other?" she asked hesitantly, taking a drink.

"Mom hated dad, and dad hated almost everyone she cared about." He answered, rocking his head back against the headboard with a dull thud, feeling equally as hollow as he did when he first read it in his mothers handwriting. "She thought he was a prideful, stuck up bastard. He thought she disgraced the clan with her choice of company except for Minato. But they were each powerful, and her parents last wish was for them to get married, and if she wanted to stay in the clan she had to comply, and cause Hibiki was dead she had nowhere to go." Sasuke swallowed and let out a short, bitter snort. "You know, maybe it was just because I was a kid, but I never could tell. They never said a single thing against each other when I was around. I'm closing in on the final entries and she wrote that the only good things she got out of their marriage were me and _him,_ and I was the only one she actually got to be a mom to. Naruto would have grown up like a brother to me if not for the clan. And I never could tell, not a single _fucking_ argument..."

Shikako was silent, her mouth dry as a bone. She put her hand over his and squeezed it tight. "I'm so sorry. I-" She paused a moment. "I'm sorry you had to find that out at all."

Sasuke squeezed her hand back. "What about you? You want to talk about anything. All this is for you." He reminded her.

She nodded, and took a long, deep drink to fill her mouth with the taste Ino's tea blend as her eyes started to well up. "They killed Aoba. Slit his throat. And as he died, they held me down and made me drink his blood. And tonight, I had a nightmare about it. And all I could think about was the taste of his blood in my mouth, and how it felt to have a full stomach of it, and how I couldn't breath with it choking me." She sniffed and took her hand out of his to wipe angrily at her eyes. "I thought after the first couple nights of not dreaming about it, I wasn't going to."

Sasuke put their mugs on her desk and pulled her into a hug. "I should have been there for you." He whispered into her ear after a moment. "It seems like every time you suffer, I was the cause of it, or I wasn't there to stop it. And I'm so, so sorry for failing you."

She felt a wave of shear revulsion and panic, and the most horrible feeling of _loss_ wash over her as the image of Sasuke in Aoba's place came behind her eyes and she tried to shove him away, but he held her tight, so she hissed in his ear, halfway to a sob. "Don't you _dare._ There was nothing I could do to save Aoba, and if it had been you instead I don't know if I would have wanted to survive it. Losing Aoba was bad enough, but losing you would have been unbearable. You've never failed me, I was always right where I wanted to be."

"If losing me is unbearable, how do you think I feel when you keep taking hits for me?" Sasuke asked. "I'm not saying you should quit, being your teammate is the best thing that ever happened to me. I just want you to know I feel the same way about you."

Her fingers tightened in his shirt before letting go and gently separated from him. "Thanks." She said, sitting back against the headboard. "Can I have my tea back?" She asked. He passed it back. "You did a really good job with this." She said.

"Thanks." He returned with a smile. "It is really good. I'm going to have to thank Ino for it."

"She is great." Shikako agreed.

They finished their tea, and Sasuke got up to put the cups back in the sink. "Goodnight." She said, laying down and pulling the covers up to her chin.

"Goodnight." He returned, tapping the bump of her ankle as he passed.

* * *

 **AN:** **Well, same thing as usual I guess. Go hit that Review button, or else tell me what you think of it in the DOS FanFic thread in the forum... Preferably hit the review button, though. Seriously, It's been a while since I've written and I want to know if I'm losing it anywhere. I hope you enjoyed it.**


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